Harry Potter - Life Is A Game
by Magic Maryse
Summary: One different decision on Voldemort's part costs Harry his life. However, Harry wouldn't be Harry, if he didn't have that extra ounce of luck to get a second chance. Why his life suddenly is a video game he doesn't know, but like every other player, he'll have to endure the advantages and hardships of gaming - long loading screens, ridiculous level requirements... the list is long.
1. Chapter 1

**While I decide what to do with my other story, I wanted to upload this piece of fiction here - Harry Potter's life as a video game.**

 **If you've played video games before, you already know that some of them have absolutely ridiculous level requirements, quests or items that are absolutely useless and situations (may it be the behaviour of a character or other things that would never work in real life) that make you shake your head. The list is long, something Harry will also find out in this story...**

 **This has been done before, I am aware of that and want to emphasise that I have no intentions of copying or stealing other people's fanfictions! I haven't read or borrowed any content of other stories, any similarities are simply coincidental and unintentional! If you feel that I have wronged someone, please pm me and we'll sort this out together.**

 **That said, I have borrowed some ideas from Dragon Age: Inquisition, The Sims, Fallout and Bioshock.**

 **J. K. Rowling still owns Harry Potter, I haven't managed to change that yet. ;)**

 **I hope you like what I did here - reviews are welcome, criticism is accepted and considered in future works! :)**

* * *

Somehow, Harry had known that his fate was sealed the moment Voldemort sent forth his most faithful servant to verify his death. Bellatrix Lestrange's footsteps were quick and determined as she approached him, kneeling down beside him to feel his pulse with surprisingly gentle fingers.

For a brief moment, the clearing in the Forbidden Forest was dead silent, the air filled with anticipation but Harry knew that Bellatrix would feel the slight beating of his heart, knew that she would betray him to her master. The fingers on his pulse froze and withdrew completely as the woman scrambled back to her feet.

"My Lord…," she breathed and Harry could imagine the horror and hatred in her eyes. "My Lord, the boy… he's alive... do you want me to –"

"No!" Voldemort bellowed coldly. More movement as several people retreated from the same spot. "Harry Potter is mine, nobody shall lay hand on him unless I say so. AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Harry didn't have time to heave his aching body off the ground and defend himself. The second Killing Curse hit him square in the back, silencing him once and for all.

This time, there was no light around him, no indications that he was anywhere at all; no smell, no sound, no feeling or taste – just darkness. Then, fine lines of silvery mist appeared before him that slowly but surely danced around each other to form two words: **Game Over**.

Harry frowned. Game Over? It was something he'd once seen on Dudley's computer screen when his cousin had failed to kill an alien while playing one of his video games. This, however, was Harry's own life, there was no option for him to start anew and try until he finally figured out how to defeated Lord Voldemort. He was dead, there was no turning back.

The words vanished as the silvery threads swirled around him once more, just like a newly forming patronus. Harry blinked, taking a step back.

 **Do you wish to try again?**

"Try again?" Harry asked bewildered. "Try what again? Where am I?"

 **Please select your Character.**

There was only one name written there and it was his own.

 _What is this place?_

This was neither what Harry had experienced after being hit by the Killing Curse the first time, meeting Dumbledore at what had looked like an alternative version of King's Cross, nor how he'd always imagined dying. Had he accidentally performed magic and landed in one of Dudley's old video games? Was he damned to play until he defeated the final boss?

It sounded so absurd, even to his own ears, that he almost laughed out loud. If he told anyone about this, they probably wouldn't believe him – they'd send him to a mental asylum and declare him insane.

 _How does this even work? Do I simply select myself, are there even other options?_

 **Options. Unavailable.**

Apparently, all he had to do was think about where he wanted to go and the game, or whatever this was, would take him there.

Harry hesitated. Should he really do it? Did he even have a choice? Probably not, considering the lack of an exit option.

 _Harry Potter,_ he thought and his name lit up before the mist around him moved again, shaping and changing his surroundings to –

 **Character Creation. Please choose an appearance.**

 _Choose an appearance? But I already have one! I can't possibly change my hair colour – never mind._

Harry had never felt so utterly dumbfounded in his entire life. Here he was, theoretically dead, standing in front of a mirror with a number of silvery words floating in the darkness to his right, allowing him to apparently change his appearance.

Upon closer inspection, however, he found that his options were pretty much limited to two outfits (a red sweater with beige trousers or a white t-shirt with a pair of baggy jeans), two hair colours (red or black), two eye colours (hazel or green) and the generous offer to wear glasses or not.

 _That just makes it so much easier…_

Designing his own self, how he would appear to other people – or so he imagined – was a weird kind of feeling. Seeing himself with flaming red hair, no glasses and hazel eyes made him look like a Weasley and Harry quickly discarded the idea of a different hair colour; he'd rather stick with his unruly black one and his mother's eyes. And while he'd actually never been fond of his glasses, the game's note of getting an additional bonus for wearing one made him reconsider his initial choice.

 **Note: Glasses reduce your Perception, Agility and Luck when broken, but give you the chance to see your opponent's stats – can be upgraded.**

 _Err, okay… I'll take the glasses then, I guess… How do I continue?_

 **Are you sure you want to continue?**

 _Yes, otherwise I wouldn't have asked._

 **Character Attributes. Please allocate your available attribute points to the following attributes:**

 **Strength – Strength affects the power of your spells, physical damage, how much you can carry and your overall health.**

 **Perception – Perception affects your attention to detail and how well your aim is when firing a spell.**

 **Endurance – Endurance affects your overall resilience against spell and physical damage as well as the amount of magic at your disposal. High Endurance enables you to use more spells before you are exhausted.**

 **Charisma – Charisma measures your ability to speak eloquently and form relationships with other characters. High Charisma opens up more dialogue options and the chance to get information others would normally hold back.**

 **Intelligence – Intelligence measures your overall ability to learn new information and how quickly you can solve problems. Higher Intelligence allows you to read more advanced books, gather experience points faster and increases the amount of information gathered.**

 **Agility – Agility affects the fluidity of your movements, how quickly you are able to dodge and how well your sneaking abilities are. High Agility especially comes in handy in duels as it also measures how quickly you can cast spells.**

 **Luck – Luck defines how easily and often you find special objects in your environment or get out of a tricky situation relatively unscratched. High Luck also gives you a greater amount of galleons earned from completing quests.**

 **Points available: 11**

 **Note: You're starting off each year with an amount of attribute points equal to your age.**

Harry blinked, reading through the text once again to make sure he didn't miss anything important. Apparently, he now had to decide how to best distribute the points to start the game.

The only problem was that he had absolutely no idea whether he should allocate them equally or put an emphasis on a certain attribute.

 **Tipp: Sometimes it's easier to talk your way out of a situation than trying to solve the problem with brute force!**

 _Okay, so you're telling me Charisma is important, is that what you're saying?_

The game, however, remained silent. Apparently, these pieces of advice were either given randomly or there was no accurate answer to his question… or maybe both, who knew.

 _Eleven points, seven attributes…_

Strength, Endurance and Agility would help him a lot in duels and Luck would probably safe him from dying once or twice – if he understood the meaning of these attributes correctly. They would be of great importance once Voldemort returned to his full power but as far as Harry could remember, his first three years consisted mainly of learning and familiarising himself with the magical world. There was no real duelling Deatheaters – okay, there'd been the Basilisk in his second year that he'd killed with the Sword of Gryffindor but that had been about it…

 _Okay, let's make that five points for Charisma, four for Intelligence… No, wait – four for Charisma, three for Intelligence, and one each for Perception, Agility, Luck and Endurance._

That left him with zero Strength but as of right now, his spells didn't have to be very powerful and apart from Quidditch, there wasn't really anything that could hurt him.

 **Harry Potter Stats:**

 **Strength – 0**

 **Perception – 1**

 **Endurance – 1**

 **Charisma – 4**

 **Intelligence – 3**

 **Agility – 1**

 **Luck – 1**

 **Do you want to continue?**

Well, there wasn't really anything else for him to do, was there?

 _Yes._

The mist around him dissolved once again, before reforming to new words that now read: **Loading Screen.**

 **Tipp: Spell Mastery is important for successfully learning and firing more difficult spells. The higher your level, the more powerful your spells become and the likelihood of failure decreases, giving you a potentially higher success-rate and better grades.**

 _That is actually good to know. Maybe I should have spent more points on Intelligence to get more advanced spells?_

He was sure to remember that for the next time he would get to distribute skill points. Right now, he was still standing in the middle of nowhere with the mist being his only point of orientation, which was slightly unnerving.

 **Tipp: Relationships are important – you should better think twice about making enemies! The better your relationship to another person, the more likely they are to help you out.**

Relationships, something Harry had never considered himself very good at. Sure, he'd had his fair share of friends, Ron and Hermione being his closest, but most of the people had only followed him because he was the Chosen One, the Boy Who Lived. Maybe this time, he would actually be able to see what people really thought of him and not make himself a picture only based on the way they acted around him.

 _Let's see, if I could use my glasses to my advantage. If they really show information about other people's stats, they should also be able to tell me their relationship status._

It felt weird, knowing that his second chance at life was nothing but a game; a very realistic one where choices probably had a grave impact on the outcome. Would it be possible to make the Dursleys like him? Harry seriously doubted it but thought that, maybe, it was worth a try. Dudley had even been nice to him when he'd told them to leave so Voldemort couldn't find them.

He sighed and began tapping his foot while the words **Loading Screen** still glowed in the darkness before him. At least the tipps changed from time to time, which made all the waiting slightly more bearable.

 **Tipp: Explore new areas to obtain rare items, unlock new quests and characters!**

Then, finally, the words dissolved and the world around him grew dark again before a bright flash of light threw him backwards and against a semi-soft wall.

"Ouch!" Harry groaned and rubbed his aching neck, which had taken almost the full brunt of the impact. "Could have warned me before trying to kill me again!"

Slowly, he opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times to adjust to his surroundings. Fortunately, it was almost as dark around him as in the main menu of the game but he could make out the blurry silhouettes of what looked like his old cupboard under the stairs.

 _Great, back to the beginning. Maybe I should get up before Aunt Petunia starts screeching my head off – where the heck are my glasses?_

He found them a few seconds later lying neatly on the small nightstand next to his bed, switched on the light and found the white t-shirt and baggy jeans he'd chosen in the character creation neatly folded at the foot of his bed.

 _Better than nothing…_

As soon as he was fully dressed, a small window popped up at the lower left-hand corner of his eye that read:

 **Dressed For The Day: + 20 XP, + 20 Galleons**

 **TUTORIAL**

 **For every completed quest, you gain experience points and galleons that you can use to level-up your character and buy equipment. You can view all available and completed quests in your Diary. To open your Diary, simply think the word '** ** _Diary'_** **. The game will be paused while accessing the Menu.**

 **Next Quest: Make Breakfast!**

Harry groaned. He hadn't made breakfast since his third year at Hogwarts! He'd probably burn the bacon and mess up Uncle Vernon's scrambled egg.

 _I thought I'd be getting interesting quests like "Defeat the Boggart in your Uncle's closet" or "Rescue Mrs. Figg from the Dementors". Instead, I'm back to being my relatives' servant…_

Before he ventured out into the known unknown, however, Harry wanted to familiarise himself with all the new features that came with playing a game – a real-life Harry Potter simulator…

There had to be a way to view his stats, right? In case he wanted to check his health bar or experience points or whatever was important for him in his current situation.

 **TUTORIAL**

 **You can permanently display your character stats by thinking** ** _'display stats'_** **.**

 **The red bar shows your current health – if it reaches zero, you die and have to start again from your last saving point. Use medpacks, potions or healing spells to refill your health bar.**

 **The blue bar below shows how much Endurance you have left – if it reaches zero, you are exhausted and can no longer perform magic. Your Endurance recharges on its own after some time but can also be refilled by resting or consuming food and potions.**

 **The golden bar shows your current amount of experience points earned and how much are still needed to reach the next level. The number next to it shows your current player level.**

 **Harry Potter Stats:**

 **Level: 1**

 **XP: 20 / 500**

 **Health: 68 / 100**

 **Endurance: 100 / 100**

 _Display stats_ , Harry thought and three different bars popped up before his eyes. They were neatly placed on the right side so they wouldn't obscure his sight and he was slightly taken aback to see that his health wasn't at one hundred percent but roughly around seventy.

 _I'm neither feeling sick nor do I have any injuries…_

 **TIPP: Eat and sleep regularly. Otherwise, your health will suffer!**

At least, this answered the mysterious decrease of his health. While Harry was sure that he'd always gotten sufficient sleep, the Dursleys had never particularly cared whether he'd had enough to eat.

While being able to permanently view his stats, the additional bars in front of his face were something he'd have to get used to. For the sake of being a character in a game, however, Harry decided to keep it that way – he could very likely change it at a later point anyway.

Just as he was about to open the door of his cupboard, he could hear a set of light footsteps hastily descending the stairs.

 _Probably Aunt Petunia who doesn't want to wake Uncle Vernon and Dudley while she prepares breakfast. Maybe I should go and help her…_

Since his current quest was to make breakfast and he didn't really have a lot of experience playing video games, Harry decided to follow the instructions and hesitantly left the safety of his cupboard.

His Aunt Petunia came to a sudden halt at seeing her nephew already awake at this hour of the day and disapprovingly pursed her lips.

"Why are you up?" she snapped in a whisper. "Go back to your cupboard!"

 **TUTORIAL**

 **Relationships play an important role in your life. They affect your social status, how many enemies your character has and how many people are willing to follow and help you. The more friends you have, the better your connections to the outside world are and you stand a great chance of finding a helpful hand during time of turmoil.**

 **But be careful – relationships have to be fostered! Spending too much time networking will have a negative impact on other aspects of your life!**

Harry stared at his aunt who was still frozen while the tutorial text was on display, as was the rest of the world. Apparently, their relationship left a lot to be desired at only 100 out of 1000 points.

 **TUTORIAL**

 **Relationships change over time depending on how your reactions are and whether you make an effort to maintain a positive connection to your friends. Some characters need a higher Charisma Level than others and are naturally more distrustful toward you.**

 **Each response affects your personality, the way other perceive you and your relationships.**

 **Unlocked: Personality Traits**

 **Be careful – it is a lot easier to make enemies than to establish a long-lasting friendship!**

 **Relationship Status Petunia Dursley: 100 / 1000**

 **Difficulty: 20**

 **Note: The level of difficulty is equal to the amount of Charisma points needed to successfully gain additional information, lie, barter or use persuasion.**

Harry currently had four Charisma points, not nearly enough to apparently manipulate his aunt in any way. He still didn't have any idea how this whole dialogue thingy worked – would he be able to freely say whatever he thought was suitable or would the game offer him a handful of options?

Less than five seconds later, he had his answer as another tutorial text popped up right in front of him.

 _This is getting rather exhausting… I'm spending more time reading through explanations and advices than actually playing…_

 **TUTORIAL**

 **The dialogue wheel is a game mechanic used during conversations that opens up special dialogues for characters. Instead of choosing the exact dialogue lines, you choose between short paraphrases of the fully voiced dialogue that will follow.**

 **Unlocked: Dialogue Wheel**

 **Note: To view the full dialogue wheel, enter your menu and to go** ** _'dialogue wheel'_** **.**

Harry, who as still in control of most of his movements except for his legs, sighed exasperatedly. If this was what it was like to play a video game, he'd be in his late nineties by the time he reached his seventh year at Hogwarts!

To make things worse, there was an overload of new information about all the things he'd have to pay attention to from now on that he was sure to mess up in the near future. How on earth was he supposed to keep note of everything while on his quest to defeated Voldemort? His life hadn't been this hard, had it?

For a moment, Harry considered skipping this part of the tutorial but seeing how low his current relationship status with his aunt was, he decided to endure the torture of having to read yet another novel-length text about dialogues.

 _Who knows what this is good for…_

 **DIALOGUE WHEEL**

 **Note that some dialogue options are unavailable until you reach a certain Charisma level. Some options may not be available for a certain character.**

 **.**

 **Investigate: make inquiries to learn more about the current conversation.**

 **Special: this option is rare and may only appear for certain characters, be based on past circumstances or newly gained information and depends on your Charisma level.**

 **Payment: barter or bribe someone.**

 **Politics: display your understanding of how the political system works.**

 **History: put your knowledge of history and ancient lore to use.**

 **Arcane: if you understand magic and magical theory, use this information to your advantage.**

 **Underworld: showcase your knowledge of the criminal world with this special dialogue option.**

 **Sly: trick or lie to a character.**

 **.**

 _Okay, this is certainly less difficult than I imagined. I can freely choose what to say as long as it isn't any of the special dialogue stuff… Sounds easy enough…_

There was another tab in the menu called **Personality Traits** which apparently showed his own characteristics and Harry was surprised to see that some of his traits weren't at all what he would have expected:

 **Ambitious: 10 / 100**

 **Adventurous: 20 / 100**

 **Brave: 20 / 100**

 **Cunning: 10 / 100**

 **Confidence: 5 / 100**

 **Dark: 5 / 100**

 **Diplomatic: 5 / 100**

 **Fair: 10 / 100**

 **Funny: 5 / 100**

 **Hard-Working: 30 / 100**

 **Helpful: 30 / 100**

 **Honest: 25 / 100**

 **Intelligent: 10 / 100**

 **Kind: 30 / 100**

 **Loyal: 10 / 100**

 **Polite: 30 / 100**

 **Rebellious: 15 / 100**

 **Respectful: 30 / 100**

 **Selfless: 30 / 100**

 **Sensitive: 10 / 100**

 **Tolerant: 20 / 100**

 **Temperamental: 40 / 100**

As of right now, his traits were pretty low and the fact that his intelligence was down to only ten points didn't really boost his confidence a lot.

Harry sighed. There was so much to be considered and if every reaction truly changed his personality, he was already afraid of being a different character altogether after every conversation!

Right now, however, he had to face his aunt; difficulty level 20 with a great chance of failure…

He closed the menu and Petunia awoke from her frozen state, her eyes looking down on him sharply as if he'd already ruined her day by showing up before breakfast.

To stay on the safe side, Harry opted for offering to help her. "I woke up early and thought I could help you prepare breakfast."

Hoping to have chosen the right reply – he didn't necessarily want to make an enemy out of the people he'd be living with for the next six years – Harry watched her eyes narrow suspiciously.

"Fine," she finally snapped and pushed him toward the kitchen with more force than necessary. "Take care of the bacon – but don't you dare burn it! – while I set the table. Go on!"

Harry nodded and hurried to get a frying pan, some margarine and the bacon from the refrigerator. He'd actually expected his relationship with Petunia to go up but so far, he hadn't gotten any indication that anything had happened at all.

While Harry reluctantly but obediently watched over the food, Aunt Petunia hurried around the kitchen and placed three dozen neatly-wrapped presents next to Dudley's empty chair.

Harry bit back a groan. While he was eternally grateful for getting another chance at life – albeit a very weird one – they could at least have spared him the torment of having to repeat a visit to the London Zoo. Putting it mildly, neither his cousin nor Piers Polkiss were fond of him and vice versa and while they had pretty much left him in peace, the incident with the boa constrictor had earned him the longest cupboard arrest in his entire life.

Harry's only hope was that the game would give him a little bit of freedom regarding his choices so he'd at least have the option _not_ to talk to the snake.

"Stop daydreaming and watch the bacon, boy!" Aunt Petunia screeched at him, before adding with tears in her eyes: "I want everything to be perfect on Diddy's birthday!"

"Yes, Aunt Petunia," Harry replied mechanically, which apparently had been the wrong thing to say because he got an immediate notice from the game that his relationship to his aunt had worsened by one point.

 _Shit. Note to myself: watch your tone, Harry._

Taking a peek at his personality traits, he noticed that his politeness had also slightly decreased and was now down to 28 points.

On the positive side, Harry now had an understanding of how his reactions impacted his traits and relationships. All he had to do now was figure out how to improve his standing with his relatives; a task that was much harder than it first appeared.

By the time he was sandwiched between Piers Polkiss and Dudley at the backseat of Uncle Vernon's new car, he'd gained another 40 XP for helping in the kitchen but worsened his relationships by giving the wrong answers.

If he continued this way, Harry'd have more enemies upon his arrival at Hogwarts than he'd had before Voldemort's Killing Curse had ended his life.

 **HARRY POTTER**

 **Level: 1**

 **XP: 60 / 500**

 **Health: 75 / 100**

 **Endurance: 100 / 100**

 **.**

 **ATTRIBUTES**

 **Strength – 0**

 **Perception – 1**

 **Endurance – 1**

 **Charisma – 4**

 **Intelligence – 3**

 **Agility – 1**

 **Luck – 1**

 **.**

 **PERSONALITY TRAITS**

 **Ambitious: 10 / 100**

 **Adventurous: 20 / 100**

 **Brave: 20 / 100**

 **Cunning: 10 / 100**

 **Confidence: 5 / 100**

 **Dark: 5 / 100**

 **Diplomatic: 3 / 100**

 **Fair: 10 / 100**

 **Funny: 5 / 100**

 **Hard-Working: 30 / 100**

 **Helpful: 35 / 100**

 **Honest: 25 / 100**

 **Intelligent: 10 / 100**

 **Kind: 29 / 100**

 **Loyal: 10 / 100**

 **Polite: 28 / 100**

 **Rebellious: 20 / 100**

 **Respectful: 28 / 100**

 **Selfless: 30 / 100**

 **Sensitive: 8 / 100**

 **Tolerant: 20 / 100**

 **Temperamental: 40 / 100**

 **.**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATS**

 **Petunia Dursley: 97 / 1000**

 **Vernon Dursley: 80 / 1000**

 **Dudley Dursley: 95 / 1000**

 **Piers Polkiss: 60 / 1000**

Wisely, Harry remained silent throughout the entire car ride to the zoo, during which Uncle Vernon loudly complained about motorcyclists and their "Constant disregard of traffic regulations!" while almost running a red light.

He'd never considered how important relationships were until they'd suddenly gotten a rating and Charisma was a set-in-stone indicator of how successful his social skills were. Sure, people had repeatedly warned him to keep his temperament in check but now that everything was displayed in numbers, Harry realised how unpopular he actually was with some parties. Additionally, he now had his personality traits to worry about and being so low in what was commonly attributed to a well-respected member of society in most parts of the world, especially considering who he was, had dampened his mood a little bit.

They got out the car.

 **Silent As The Grave – You managed to remain silent for an hour while in the presence of other characters: + 10 XP, + 10 Galleons**

Harry blinked. _Huh? That certainly gives the phrase 'speech is silver, but silence is golden' a whole new meaning… Now I only have to survive an entire day at the zoo…_

Waiting in line outside the large, dark-green gates while Dudley and Piers pressed their faces against the fence to get a better glimpse at the crowd lingering on the other side, looking cluelessly at their maps or setting off in different directions with their cameras and children in tow, was certainly testing his patience.

"I want them to move faster!" Dudley complained ten minutes later.

There were only six people in front of them now, a family of three among them and Harry refrained from rolling his eyes, afraid that Uncle Vernon would catch the gesture and punish him for it.

 _The last thing I need is worsening my relationship with the Dursleys. Until I'm a higher level, my options of doing anything apart from doing what I'm told will only give me a disadvantage._

Considering the fact that he didn't have the necessary attribute levels to achieve anything without failing the missions, he was pretty much stuck – just like his old self. That was what frustrated him more than having to re-live every aspect of his life – some parts of which he'd rather not go through a second time – and that, albeit getting a second chance, he was yet unable to change the direction his life was currently taking.

Having paid for their tickets, Aunt Petunia handed them each a map of the zoo just in case one of them got lost – she even had one for Harry, much to his surprise.

 _Since when does she care about me getting lost? Wouldn't it be a relief for them to be rid of me?_

 **New area unlocked: London Zoo! + 1000 XP**

 **Level up! + 1 Attribute Point, + 100 Galleons**

 **Note: Access your stats in the Menu to allocate your available attribute points!**

One _attribute point!? How am I ever going to get more powerful, if I only get a single point each time I level up?_

This probably was life's way of spitting him in the face. Wasn't levelling up a sort of thing to be celebrated? Instead, he had seven attributes he needed to increase and only one point to distribute!

"Thanks for the generous help, whoever you are," Harry muttered under his breath as he entered the Menu screen where his stats were displayed and increased his Charisma to five.

A moment later, he already regretted having acted on impulse rather than using his brains because Intelligence would have given him more XP for completing quests, enabling him to level up faster.

 _But maybe I would have needed a higher Intelligence to begin with to think before I jump to conclusions,_ Harry thought bitterly. _Note to myself: use your brains, Harry!_

At least his health had increased by fifty points without him doing anything, but since Endurance was an attribute, this number remained at exactly 100 points.

 **New Quest: Explore the London Zoo!**

 **.**

 **TUTORIAL**

 **Exploring new areas is an essential part of the game. In many cases, you'll find hidden items, new quests, creatures or characters and a whole new environment! Is your level too low to complete an assignment or obtain a special object? No problem, return at a later time to finish your exploration! Once you've reached 100 percent, you'll receive a bonus card (common, uncommon, rare, ultra-rare or legendary)!**

 **Unlocked: Inventory!**

 **.**

 **TUTORIAL**

 **Want to store away an item but don't always want to run back to your room to retrieve it? Simply put it in your inventory, which you can access at any time! Just keep in mind that your carrying capacity is limited – once you're overloaded, your movements will slow down drastically!**

Taking a look at his inventory, he found it to be mostly empty; the only items in his possession were the clothes he was currently wearing and his newly acquired map.

Closing the Menu, Harry went back to reality, where a large group of excitedly chattering students walked past them while their teacher warned them to stay close together.

"I expect everyone back at the entrance by six o'clock sharp," Uncle Vernon said matter-of-factly, his watery eyes resting warningly on Harry. "No funny business, boy – none at all, or you'll spend the rest of the year in your cupboard, am I clear?"

"Yes, Uncle Vernon," Harry replied, keeping the annoyed tone out of his voice this time and was promptly rewarded with the message:

 **Your relationship with Vernon Dursley has increased!**

While Dudley and Piers snickered at him from behind his uncle's back, Harry was relieved to see that he _could_ improve his relationship with his relatives. All those years he'd waved them off as a lost cause and here he was, learning that he'd been too narrow-minded to see that the opposite was actually the case!

 _Wait a second – did he just give me permission to take off on my own?_

"Splendid! Off you go, Diddy-dums!" Aunt Petunia chirped happily and shooed her son and his best friend away to explore the zoo on their own.

"What are you waiting for, boy!" Uncle Vernon bellowed when Harry didn't immediately react. "An extra invitation? Get lost!"

Harry didn't need to be told twice – he was free to explore the zoo and go wherever _he_ wanted to go, not Dudley or Piers!

"Thanks, Uncle Vernon!" he cried over his shoulder before hurrying away in case his relatives changed their minds.

He didn't know why he was suddenly allowed so much freedom but Harry had learned not to question some things ever since starting to play this ridiculous game. What did he care about the whys of such sudden changes, if they were to his complete advantage and had no negative consequences?

The less-interesting animals were located near the entrance to lure the visitor further into the zoo but Harry didn't get very far as he found his first side-quest less than five minutes into his Dursley-free time.

 **New Side-Quest: Help the old lady at the kiosk with her money!**

Harry turned to search for the person in question and found her fumbling with her purse while the young man behind the counter impatiently tapped his fingers against the glass.

He shrugged and casually walked over to her. If this was his chance to gain more XP, he'd gladly take it – who knew which level requirements would be awaiting him in the magical world. Besides, he really needed to upgrade his Intelligence in order to grow faster, even if he had to help old women with their purchases.

"Excuse me, ma'am," he said politely, smiling at her. "I saw you having trouble with that purse of yours - do you need help with it by any chance?"

The woman paused, a look of sheer relief passing over her features as she thankfully handed him her purse. The fact that a total stranger, an eleven-year-old boy nonetheless – okay, basically, he was still only ten years old but his birthday wasn't too far away anymore so that didn't count – without an adult chaperone was approaching her, didn't seem to bother her in the slightest.

"Oh, yes, yes, thank you very much, young man," she replied with a smile. "My sight hasn't been the best for the last couple of years – you'll get to that point, too, once you're my age!"

She laughed shakily, while Harry retrieved the five pounds for the hot dog she'd ordered and handed it to the man behind the counter.

"Very considerate of you, young man, you don't see that sort of behaviour anymore these days," she sighed, then handed him a ten pounds bill. "Here, take this as a reward for helping an old lady. Buy yourself some sweets or whatever young people your age like to eat nowadays."

With that, she turned away from him with a nod and vanished into the crowd of chattering people, leaving behind a somewhat perplexed Harry holding a crumpled ten-pound bill in his right hand.

 **Quest completed: Help the old lady at the kiosk with her money: + 20 XP, + 20 Galleons**

He was now missing only 440 XP until he reached level three and all he had to do was keep his eyes open for other side-quests – his only restriction: he had to be back at the entrance by 6 pm.

A lopsided smile made its way onto his features. Harry Potter had a mission and he'd be a fool not to take advantage of a full day alone in the zoo. Maybe this whole video game stuff wasn't as bad as he'd originally believed it to be…

.

.

.

Five hours later, Harry had been to almost every place imaginable: Land Of The Lions, In With The Spiders, In With The Lemurs, Meet The Monkeys, Tiger Territory, Blackburn Pavilion, Gorilla Kingdom, Snowdon Aviary, Penguin Beach, Fruit Bat Forest, Aquarium, Rainforest Life, Butterfly Paradise, Bird Safari, Attenborough Komodo Dragon House (which hadn't really hosted a dragon, much to his relief), Gibbons, Animal Adventure, Into Africa, B.U.G.S, Otters, Meerkats, Galapagos Tortoises and Pygmy Hippos. Every major attraction the zoo had to offer and he'd been generously rewarded for his patience and endurance after even visiting several toilets, two restaurants and the Amphitheatre.

Harry had made it half way through level three, was 440 Galleons and 20 pounds richer (the ample lunch and ice cream he'd treated himself to already deducted) and was now the proud owner of an, albeit common, bonus card called **Keen Explorer** , which awarded him an extra five percent XP for every discovered location.

Happily, with a slight bounce to his step, he wandered back to their meeting point at the entrance of the zoo. This had probably been the best day in his young life – no Dursleys, no Dudley or his gang to chase him around and beat him up, and nobody to shout at him for blinking the wrong way.

Due to the time limit, Harry hadn't gotten the chance to visit the reptile house but considering past experiences with a certain boa constrictor, maybe this wasn't so bad after all. According to the game, he could always return to the zoo at a later point and finish exploring this map.

It was five minutes past six o'clock when Dudley and Piers finally managed to join him, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia who'd looked a tad bit sour at seeing their nephew already waiting for them with a smile on his face. Apparently, there hadn't been any complaints regarding Harry, because none of the Dursleys yelled at or threatened him with punishments.

"Get in the car!" his uncle bellowed when they were back at the parking lot.

Harry complied. He'd just had an almost perfect day and he'd loved it.

.

.

 **HARRY POTTER**

 **Level: 3**

 **XP: 2300 / 3000**

 **Health: 80 / 200**

 **Endurance: 100 / 100**

 **.**

 **ATTRIBUTES**

 **Strength – 0**

 **Perception – 1**

 **Endurance – 1**

 **Charisma – 5**

 **Intelligence – 4**

 **Agility – 1**

 **Luck – 1**

 **.**

 **PERSONALITY TRAITS**

 **Ambitious: 10 / 100**

 **Adventurous: 25 / 100**

 **Brave: 20 / 100**

 **Cunning: 10 / 100**

 **Confidence: 8 / 100**

 **Dark: 5 / 100**

 **Diplomatic: 5 / 100**

 **Fair: 11 / 100**

 **Funny: 5 / 100**

 **Hard-Working: 30 / 100**

 **Helpful: 50 / 100**

 **Honest: 25 / 100**

 **Intelligent: 10 / 100**

 **Kind: 35 / 100**

 **Loyal: 10 / 100**

 **Polite: 32 / 100**

 **Rebellious: 20 / 100**

 **Respectful: 30 / 100**

 **Selfless: 30 / 100**

 **Sensitive: 10 / 100**

 **Tolerant: 20 / 100**

 **Temperamental: 40 / 100**

 **.**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATS**

 **Petunia Dursley: 99 / 1000**

 **Vernon Dursley: 85 / 1000**

 **Dudley Dursley: 95 / 1000**

 **Piers Polkiss: 60 / 1000**

 **.**

 **BONUS ITEMS**

 **Keen Explorer: + 5% XP for each discovered location**

* * *

 **If you've found any mistakes regarding grammar, content or calculations you want to point out, mention them in your review and I'll correct them! :)**

 **Ideas or criticism regarding the levelling system as well as skills or character traits can also be posted in the reviews and if you have had a really annoying experience playing a video game, feel free to tell me about it - maybe I'll include it in my story (with your permission, of course)! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey! :)**

 **I just wanted to say thanks for all the support and great ideas I'm getting from all of you! This is really fun to write and I've already taken into consideration some of what you mentioned in your comments. If anything is unclear or doesn't make sense, please let me know and I'll edit the chapter.**

 **Otherwise, I'd like you to enjoy this chapter and leave behind a review with ideas, criticism or anything else you'd like to say. ;)**

* * *

Life had changed drastically for one Harry Potter ever since it had been turned into some sort of video game. Completing quests to level up his character and increase his stats was only one point on a seemingly endlessly long list of things to be aware of, something he still wasn't entirely comfortable with.

To get a better understanding of his current situation and how to deal with it, Harry had spent hours alone in his cupboard under the stairs, scrolling through the manual in his menu, only to return to reality to find that no time had passed at all. Unfortunately, he was beginning to feel tired from all the reading and thinking he'd done and promptly slept through lunch which earned him a two-point decrease in his relationship to his aunt and uncle.

 _Not to myself: don't exhaust yourself reading manuals._

The theory of what he had to do was simple: be nice to everyone, study and exercise a lot, complete your assignments and quests, and don't break any rules. In short – he had to be perfect. And that was exactly the problem because like every other normal human being, Harry also had his flaws: his quickly rising temper, impulsiveness, little self-control and strong sense to prove himself were only the tip of the iceberg. Supressing his natural instinct of how to react to a certain situation in order to get the maximum benefit was equally tiring and trying at the same time – because the difference between what he needed to do and what he actually _wanted_ to do was enormous.

 _Someone should give me an award for best performance in a video game – or a t-shirt that says 'being perfect is hard, but I'm doing a pretty good job at it'._

Another thing Harry'd found out while reading the manual was that he'd unlock his skills at level five. Unlike his attributes, skills were something he could obtain by learning them in class, reading books or completing certain quests and could be enhanced by using, practicing or reading. Some of them had level requirements or could only be unlocked by attending lessons but they all brought an enormous advantage once he'd fully mastered them, which had put in motion his next big plan: reach level five as soon as possible. The easiest way for him to achieve that was through exploration and if that meant having to re-discover Little Whinging, so be it.

Slipping into his daily clothes, Harry quickly made sure that Dudley wasn't around to pester him, before he stepped out of the house and onto the sunlit driveway.

 **New area unlocked: Little Whinging! + 1000 XP**

 **Bonus: Keen Explorer! + 5% XP**

 **Total gained: + 1050 XP**

 **Level up! + 1 Attribute Point, + 100 Galleons**

Why he hadn't unlocked Little Whinging the day before, when they'd gone to the zoo was something Harry didn't quite understand. Then again, some of the game mechanics didn't seem to make a lot of sense – why hadn't anyone asked where he was going?

Deciding to let the topic rest, Harry increased his Intelligence by another point and was positively surprised about the message popping up:

 **Note: You've reached Intelligence Level 5! You'll now gain an extra + 5% XP boost, which doubles for every 5 points invested in Intelligence!**

 _Yup, Intelligence is definitely the most logical option at the moment… the extra XP boost now gives me + 10% for every unlocked location and +5% for everything else – I'll need another 1650 XP to reach level 5… Let's see, if I can find some quests around here…_

 **HARRY POTTER**

 **Level: 4**

 **XP: 3350 / 5000**

 **Health: 85 / 250**

 **Endurance: 100 / 100**

 **#**

 **ATTRIBUTES**

 **Strength – 0**

 **Perception – 1**

 **Endurance – 1**

 **Charisma – 5**

 **Intelligence – 5**

 **Agility – 1**

 **Luck – 1**

 **#**

 **PERSONALITY TRAITS**

 **Ambitious: 10 / 100**

 **Adventurous: 25 / 100**

 **Brave: 20 / 100**

 **Cunning: 10 / 100**

 **Confidence: 10 / 100**

 **Dark: 5 / 100**

 **Diplomatic: 5 / 100**

 **Fair: 11 / 100**

 **Funny: 5 / 100**

 **Hard-Working: 35 / 100**

 **Helpful: 50 / 100**

 **Honest: 25 / 100**

 **Intelligent: 11 / 100**

 **Kind: 35 / 100**

 **Loyal: 10 / 100**

 **Polite: 32 / 100**

 **Rebellious: 20 / 100**

 **Respectful: 30 / 100**

 **Selfless: 30 / 100**

 **Sensitive: 10 / 100**

 **Tolerant: 20 / 100**

 **Temperamental: 38 / 100**

 **#**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATS**

 **Petunia Dursley: 99 / 1000**

 **Vernon Dursley: 85 / 1000**

 **Dudley Dursley: 95 / 1000**

 **Piers Polkiss: 60 / 1000**

 **#**

 **BONUS ITEMS**

 **Keen Explorer: + 5% XP for each discovered location**

 **Intelligence Level 5: + 5% XP**

The only question Harry now had was why the personality trait 'Intelligent' hadn't gone up as well. The only reasonable explanation he could come up with was that his traits were partially how people perceived him – or how many books he'd read in this case? – and since he hadn't really said anything smart yet, nobody thought he actually was.

 _Hermione's trait is probably already skyrocketing! I've never met anyone with so much knowledge about, well, basically anything!_

He glanced at the map of Little Whinging – when had someone given him a printed copy of it and put it in his inventory?

The area was significantly smaller than the London Zoo had been and Harry wondered, if he would unlock new locations by venturing outside the boundaries. It was definitely something he'd have to try once he'd completed a couple of quests and reached level five.

 _I want those damn skills before I go anywhere else..._

Checking the map, Harry found a total of ten new quests, one of which was suspiciously close to Mrs. Figg's house and he hoped that he wouldn't have to do something stupid like playing with one of her fifty cats.

The first one was only a couple of metres away, where Harry discovered the mailman who was heaving himself off the ground while his bike was a total wreckage and the letters he should have delivered were scattered all over the place.

 **New Side-Quest: Help the mailman!**

 _Yeah, no kidding… How the hell did he even manage to wreck his bike like that?_

Out loud he said: "Err, excuse me, sir – are you okay?"

The mailman, a broadly-built fellow in his late fifties, winced and wobbly managed to get to his feet. His nose was bleeding and he had several cuts on his arms, a torn trouser leg and a split lip.

 _Must have been quite a nasty fall from the looks of it… Maybe he was hit by a car?_

"No… I – I lost control of my bike and – well, you see what happened," he stuttered a bit embarrassed. "Listen, you don't have a med kit with you by any chance? I could really use one right now…"

 **Quest Updated: Find a med kit!**

"Err, sure, I'll see what I can do for you," Harry replied, slightly concerned where in the world he was supposed to find a med kit. Maybe he could ask the Dursleys for help?

"Great. Return to me when you've found one."

Harry stared at the man whose eyes were now scanning the neighbourhood as if he were merely enjoying a beautiful day, the bruises and scratches on his arms and legs totally forgotten.

"Are you sure you don't need an ambulance?" Harry asked doubtfully.

"Do you have the med kit?" The mailman's voice was friendly and completely lacking any sign that he was actually in pain.

"No…"

"Return to me when you've found one."

This was getting weirder and weirder by the minute.

 _How can you sound like nothing's wrong after you crashed your bike? You're bloody bleeding all over the place, man! Stop being a creep and behave like an injured person!_

Slowly, eyeing the wounded man warily, Harry retreated to Number 4 where he was hoping to find a med kit and complete this quest as soon as physically possible. The mailman was outright scary – worse than any Dementor could ever hope to be!

"I'll be right back," Harry assured him, before sprinting off to get help.

 _Med kit, med kit, med kit…. Where the heck do they keep something like that?_

Since Aunt Petunia hadn't made a single disapproving comment about him running in the house, Harry had decided to just scour the rooms for what he was looking for without asking for permission first. So far, nobody had ushered a complaint and until they did, he'd continue to search on his own.

Of course, Harry wasn't totally sure, if his actions right now wouldn't have any unwanted consequences, so he was careful not to leave behind a mess and put every item back to its original place.

"Err, Aunt Petunia?" he finally asked, approaching her cautiously – who knew how she'd react to his request… "The mailman had an accident with his bike and asked me to fetch a med kit. Would you where I could find one?"

 **Support – you asked another person for help: + 10XP, + 10 Galleons**

 **Bonus: Intelligence Level 5! + 5% XP**

 **Total gained: + 10 XP**

 **Note: Partial points are rounded downwards!**

Harry groaned. _Great. A bonus that's completely useless for small achievements… Maybe Charisma wouldn't have been such a bad option, after all._

"In the garage, where it belongs!" she snapped annoyed as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

"In the garage – ," Harry repeated with a raised eyebrow, decided not to comment on the topic any further and left the kitchen.

 _Who keeps their med kit in the garage? Wouldn't the bathroom or the kitchen be better places, just in case someone_ in _the house gets hurt? – Leave it be, Harry, you already know not to question this game – just don't. Go to the garage and get the med kit so the creepy mailman out there can deliver his letters._

There was only one teeny tiny problem – the garage was locked.

 **Quest Updated: Find Uncle Vernon's spare keys!**

Harry closed his eyes, opened them again and took a deep, calming breath. Someone – and he didn't know who – was messing with him by sending him on ridiculous errands only to put one obstacle after another in his way.

"The spare keys," Harry said through gritted teeth in an effort to remain clam. "Where would Uncle Vernon put his spare keys?"

He didn't know how, nor _why_ , but thirty minutes later he found what he was looking for in their neighbour's flower-bed.

 _I don't even want to know why anyone would hide their keys in their neighbour's garden – Uncle Vernon's never made much sense to me anyway…_

Shaking his head, Harry hurried back to unlock the garage and sighed with relief upon spotting the med kit on one of the shelves to his left.

"Thank you," he mouthed to whatever god was having mercy with him.

"Hi again," Harry said as he approached the mailman who was still standing on the exact same spot Harry'd left him an hour ago.

"Do you have the med kit?" the man repeated his question from earlier and Harry nodded, handing him the med kit. "Thank you! Here, take this as a reward for helping me."

A small vial containing a blood-red liquid suddenly appeared in the man's outstretched hand and Harry, who was seriously starting to question his sanity, hesitantly accepted the gift.

 **Quest completed: Help the mailman: + 40 XP, + 40 Galleons**

 **Bonus: Intelligence Level 5! + 5% XP**

 **Total gain: + 42 XP**

 **Quest Updated: Deliver the mail!**

 _You've got to be kidding me! I run around for an hour, trying to get into the garage and all I get is 42 XP!? Delivering the mail will give me what – 10 XP?_

Somehow, Harry got the feeling that the game didn't want him to level up. Or maybe this was all part of Voldemort's plan to bring him down.

 _Let's turn Harry's life into a game and turn the levelling-system into a new way of torturing him! If we're lucky, he'll commit suicide before he gets the chance to kill me! Bahahaha_

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" Harry asked instead, already knowing the answer and found himself running from house to house less than five minutes later, packed with a bag full of letters.

 **Quest completed: Deliver the mail: + 20 XP, + 20 Galleons**

 **Bonus: Intelligence Level 5! + 5% XP**

 **Total gain: + 21 XP**

"Thank you for delivering the mail, Harry," the mailman said cheerfully.

How he knew Harry's name without it having been mentioned and why his wounds had mysteriously healed over the course of two hours, Harry didn't know – to be frank, he didn't even _want to know_.

"No problem," he replied with a smile, while silently cursing the man into limbo for wasting half his morning.

"Here, I have another reward for you." The mailman pulled a single letter out of his blood-soaked jacket and handed it to Harry. "I hope you can make use of it."

With that, he took his bike and pushed it down the street without so much as a goodbye. Harry, who didn't hear the car approaching from behind, jumped at the sudden sound of a hooter and promptly stumbled over his own feet to land face-down on the sidewalk.

"Ouch," he groaned, rubbing his chin but found that he only had a small cut on his elbow that wasn't even worth fussing over.

 **New Quest: Open your Hogwarts letter!**

 _What the –? I'm not getting my letter until my eleventh birthday! Why would they – never mind._

The letter he'd received as a reward for delivering the mail _was_ his Hogwarts letter. The yellowish parchment of the envelope, the address that had been neatly written on the front with emerald-green ink and the unmistakable seal of four animal surrounding the letter H left no doubts about where it came from.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL _of_ WITCHCRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

 _(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

 _Dear Mr. Potter,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

 _Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Minerva McGonagall_

 _Deputy Headmistress_

The list of supplies was the same he'd received the first time and Harry didn't even bother reading through it all. What was more important now was that he'd already gotten his acceptance letter, which only left one question: how was he supposed to send his reply and who would take him to Diagon Alley?

He earned another 10 XP and an equal number of galleons for opening the letter, which now brought him up to 3423 XP in total – not much considering he needed at least 5000 to make it to the next level.

Harry sighed. _Let the quest hunt begin…_

And what a hunt it was! Mrs. Figg wanted him to feed her cats while she was handicapped with a broken leg, a quest that repeated itself every twenty-four hours but apparently nobody cared at what time he fed those vile felines – one had almost scratched his eyes out when he'd tried to be nice and pet it.

A woman named Doris had dropped her keys, which, naturally, had fallen into the gully and it was his job to retrieve them. She'd thanked him by giving him a flower he then used to cheer up a teenage girl whose boyfriend had broken up with her over the phone.

The grumpy Mrs. Anderson from Number 9 asked him to gather the ingredients for the soup she wanted to make for dinner as a surprise for her nephew – all of them at places that weren't suitable for food in neither a logical nor hygienical way and he was glad he didn't have to actually eat the meal.

The man living in Number 11 owned an ancient-looking jewel case that had once belonged to his late wife, but he couldn't find the key to open it so Harry had to search the entire house in his stead.

.

.

.

By the time the sun was setting, Harry was exhausted from running around all day. Every muscle in his body ached, sweat covered his forehead and he didn't even bother to lift his feet properly anymore.

The most frustrating thing of all? He was 10 XP shy of reaching level five.

He'd found another item in one of the trash cans of Number 7: a cooking book that apparently was of some use to him, otherwise the game wouldn't have highlighted it with a golden shimmer.

He'd stored it away in his inventory, where it had joined the spare keys of the garage, a blood-replenishing potion (the one he'd gotten from the mailman) and a magical token (whatever that was good for).

He looked at his current stats.

 **HARRY POTTER**

 **Level: 4**

 **XP: 4990 / 5000**

 **Health: 85 / 250**

 **Endurance: 100 / 100**

 **#**

 **ATTRIBUTES**

 **Strength – 0**

 **Perception – 1**

 **Endurance – 1**

 **Charisma – 5**

 **Intelligence – 5**

 **Agility – 1**

 **Luck – 1**

 **#**

 **PERSONALITY TRAITS**

 **Ambitious: 10 / 100**

 **Adventurous: 25 / 100**

 **Brave: 20 / 100**

 **Cunning: 10 / 100**

 **Confidence: 10 / 100**

 **Dark: 5 / 100**

 **Diplomatic: 5 / 100**

 **Fair: 11 / 100**

 **Funny: 5 / 100**

 **Hard-Working: 40 / 100**

 **Helpful: 60 / 100**

 **Honest: 25 / 100**

 **Intelligent: 11 / 100**

 **Kind: 40 / 100**

 **Loyal: 10 / 100**

 **Polite: 40 / 100**

 **Rebellious: 18 / 100**

 **Respectful: 32 / 100**

 **Selfless: 32 / 100**

 **Sensitive: 15 / 100**

 **Tolerant: 20 / 100**

 **Temperamental: 39 / 100**

 **#**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATS**

 **Petunia Dursley: 100 / 1000**

 **Vernon Dursley: 85 / 1000**

 **Dudley Dursley: 95 / 1000**

 **Piers Polkiss: 60 / 1000**

 **Mrs. Figg: 300 / 1000**

 **#**

 **BONUS ITEMS**

 **Keen Explorer: + 5% XP for each discovered location**

 **Intelligence Level 5: + 5% XP**

Why some people were added to his list of relationships, he didn't quite understand. Perhaps, it was only the most important characters in his life, the one who would make the greatest impact?

He opened the front door to Privet Drive Number 4, slipped out of his shoes and made his way up to the bathroom to take a shower. If every day in his immediate future was going to be this trying and exhausting, Harry wasn't sure how he would ever reach a higher level without collapsing first.

Dudley's gaming characters were never worn out after a battle; they got up and continued as if nothing had happened at all. Why couldn't it be the same for him?

He undressed, adding his shirt and jeans to the pile of dirty clothes already lying in one corner of the bathroom and stepped into the shower. The water was hot and the rising steam soon clouded his sight, but Harry deliberately took his time – he deserved it after spending the entire day solving other people's problems.

 _I wonder, if there are different ways to complete quests – or not complete them at all… Would it hurt someone, if I don't help everyone I talk to?_

Seeing as he was still at level four, not taking on new quests was out of the question but it was something to be considered once he'd found a way to gain XP without having to run a city marathon.

He turned off the water and stepped out of the shower.

 **Body Care – you've taken a shower: + 10 XP, + 10 Galleons**

 **Bonus: Intelligence Level 5! + 5% XP**

 **Total gain: + 10 XP**

 **Level up! + 1 Attribute Point, + 100 Galleons**

 **Unlocked: Skills**

 **TUTORIAL**

 **Congratulations, you've unlocked your skills! Skills are acquired through –**

 _Skip that,_ Harry thought. _I've read the manual about skills, no need to explain it twice._

He immediately opened the menu, not even bothering to get a towel – time would be frozen anyway, no need for him to cover his privates – and jumped to his attributes section to allocate the point he'd earned.

 _If I increase my Intelligence now, I won't get another boost until I've reached level 10… Maybe a higher Charisma Level will come in handy? Or I could upgrade my Luck and hopefully find more useful items when exploring…_

For Dudley, it was probably less difficult to decide how to distribute his characters' points because they were all part of a virtual world, but for Harry, this was real life – every decision he made now would have an impact on his future! A future he did _not_ want to mess up twice.

 _Where is Hermione when you need her? She would know what to do in my situation… Come to think of it – she'd probably have a whole arsenal of advices on why which Attribute is important in which scenario… Yeah, that would be Hermione…_

Then he paused. Had Ron and he really depended so much on their best friend in the last seven years? She'd always been the brains in their relationship but Harry doubted that anyone else would have taken notice of his life being a game, so he couldn't just go and ask her. How awkward would that be?

 _"_ _Hey, Mione, Voldemort killed me, but don't worry – I was resurrected and now my life is a video game! Can you help me?"_

Harry shook his head. If he did that, she'd probably think he was mad… maybe he really was… His confused state of mind aside, it was really time to take matters into his own hands. If he always relied on others to make important decisions for him, he could very well stop using his brain altogether and let everyone else dictate his life.

 _Maybe… maybe that's what's been happening all along._ The thought entered his mind before he could stop it.

The way Dumbledore had always given him a 'gentle push in the right direction'. Sure, his intentions had always been good and he'd wanted to defeated the dark side as much as Harry – but how much of Harry's decisions had really been his own and not influenced by another's opinion? Not that he was planning on going dark all of a sudden…

However, this was still something he couldn't just ignore and with having the great advantage of already knowing what would occur and when, Harry would make sure not to make the same mistakes twice. He wouldn't fall for Voldemort's visions of torturing Sirius, he wouldn't let Cedric run straight into a death trap… None of his friends had to die, if he destroyed the horcruxes before anything could happen! The only question was – how could he get to them? He couldn't apparate and, as of now, had no item deadly enough to kill a horcrux once and for all. Harry was also pretty sure that he wouldn't be able to just go to Diagon Alley and buy Basilisk teeth or ask Dumbledore to borrow him the Sword of Gryffindor. The Headmaster would probably want to know what he needed it for, which would lead to Harry having to tell him the truth and that, on the other hand, would result in another wave of questions about the origin of his knowledge.

 _I guess, I'll just focus on my skills for now and wait until I have my wand. It'll certainly be easier to fight with magic than with my bare hands._

He went to the **Skills** section of the menu and stared open-mouthed at the screen in front of him for a full minute, before he was able to read the short message at the bottom.

There were no less than _30_ skills listed neatly in alphabetical order. Wasn't it enough that he already had to deal with seven attributes? Not that Harry minded the advantages he'd apparently get for mastering his skills but it was still a bit much to have to get used to.

 **Note: Skills can be upgraded independently of your player level. Some might be locked until you meet certain requirements and each Skill unlocks different bonuses or actions!**

 **SKILLS**

 **All-You-Can-Carry: 0 / 1000**

 **Increases the inventory by 1 for every 2 points mastered and gives the player unlimited carrying capacity when fully mastered. Can be upgraded by carrying around Angus Carrier's book called 'Weightlifting for Wizards" (purchasable in Diagon Alley).**

 **Animagus: 0 / 1000**

 **Have you always wondered what it's like to see the world through an animal's eyes? Wonder no longer! Animagus enables you to shift into an animal of your choosing after successfully mastering a stage. One stage consists of 200 points, making a total of five animals available for transformation. When fully mastered, transforming into an animal will no longer use up Endurance. (This skill requires the following to be unlocked: Lecture on Animagi)**

 **Apparition: 0 / 1000**

 **While fast-travelling enables the player to travel to one particular waypoint on the map, Apparition allows the direct teleportation to any desired location. No distance limitations when fully mastered. (This skill requires the following to be unlocked: Apparition Lesson)**

 **Arithmancy: 0 / 1000**

 **Arithmancy increases the likelihood of successful pranks, experiments, equipment enchantments or secret missions by using precise calculations. When fully mastered, pranks, experiments, equipment enchantments and secret missions have a 100% success-rate. Can be upgraded by attending lessons, completing homework or reading. (This skill requires the following to be unlocked: Arithmancy Lesson)**

 **Astronomy: 0 / 1000**

 **Astronomy allows you to read the stars – whatever that is good for. The player is awarded a surprise chest containing a legendary item for every 100 points. Can be upgraded by attending lessons, completing homework, reading or looking through the telescope. (This skill requires the following to be unlocked: Astronomy Lesson)**

 **Bartering: 0 / 1000**

 **Bartering gives you a 5% discount on all purchasable items for every 100 points. When fully mastered, all sellers with a lower Charisma Level than Harry's will having a 90% chance of selling their items for free. Can be upgraded by bartering or reading Artha Wellfare's 'A Beginner's Guide To Negotiations' (purchasable in Diagon Alley).**

 **Care of Magical Creatures: 0 / 1000**

 **The more dangerous the beast, the harder it is to defeat. Harry gains + 5% defence and offence against magical creatures and beings for every 100 points. Can be upgraded by attending lessons, reading, completing homework, or caring for creatures. (The skill requires the following to be unlocked: Care of Magical Creatures Lesson)**

 **Charms: 0 / 1000**

 **Charms affects the difficulty of charms Harry is able to learn. For every 100 points, Harry will be able to advance to the next higher tier*. When fully mastered, Charms gives + 25% defence and offence for all charms. Can be upgraded by attending lessons, completing homework, reading or using charms. (The skill requires the following to unlock: Charms Lesson)**

 ***See 'Spells' for more information**

 **Cooking: 10 / 1000**

 **A very trivial but useful skill, if you don't want to eat frozen pizza every day of your life. The farther your cooking skills advance, the more complex meals you'll be able to prepare. As with most things in life, learning by doing and reading is how you upgrade this skill.**

 **DADA: 0 / 1000**

 **DADA affects the difficulty of DADA spells Harry is able to learn. For every 100 points, Harry will be able to advance to the next higher tier*. When fully mastered, DADA gives + 25% defence against all dark spells, excluding Unforgivables. Can be upgraded by attending lessons, completing homework, reading or practicing. (The skill requires the following to unlock: DADA Lesson)**

 **Dark Arts: 0 / 1000**

 **Dark Arts affects the difficulty of dark spells Harry is able to learn. For every 100 points, Harry will be able to advance to the next higher tier*. When fully mastered, DADA gives + 25% offence for all dark spells. Can be upgraded by reading or using spells.**

 **Divination: 0 / 1000**

 **The subject may be useless but the skill isn't. For every 200 points, Harry gains a + 10% chance of seeing the outcome of a decision with the option to rewind and choose a different option. When fully mastered, Harry sees the outcome of all his decisions. Can be upgraded by attending lessons, completing homework or reading. (This skill requires the following to be unlocked: Divination Lesson)**

 **Duelling: 0 / 1000**

 **A useful skill, if you happen to be in a fight. For every 100 points, the Agility boosts 'Dodging', 'Movement Fluidity' and 'Quick Spellcasting' are doubled. Can be upgraded by practicing duelling or in real fights.**

 **Flying: 0 / 1000**

 **Your Flying skill affects how well you can handle a broomstick. For every 50 points, Harry will be able to master more difficult manoeuvres and his overall flying ability will improve by 5%. When fully mastered, Harry will be able to fly without a broom. Can be upgraded by practicing, playing Quidditch, reading and Flying Lessons. (The skill requires the following to e unlocked: Flying Lesson)**

 **Forever Loyal: 0 / 1000**

 **Once a relationship has reached a certain percentage, your friendship will last forever. For every 200 points, the required minimum percentage is lowered by 10%. When fully mastered, even people who don't have a good relationship with Harry will remain loyal to him so long as the status of this relationship is above 0. Can be upgraded by making friends.**

 **Healing: 0 / 1000**

 **Healing affects your healing ability. For every 100 points, all healing spells or potions gain + 5% effectiveness and you'll be able to cure more severe injuries. When fully mastered, Harry can heal all types of injuries. Can be upgraded by reading, using healing spells or potions and helping in the Infirmary.**

 **Herbology: 0 / 1000**

 **The more dangerous the plant, the harder it is to defeat and care for. Harry gains + 5% defence and offence against plants for every 100 points and an additional + 5% bonus on all plant effects. Can be upgraded by attending lessons, completing homework, reading or caring for plants. (The skill requires the following to be unlocked: Herbology Lesson)**

 **Language Mastery: 0 / 1000**

 **Communication is important. Harry gains a + 10%-time bonus for every 100 points when learning a new language. When fully mastered, languages are learned immediately upon hearing or reading about them. Can be upgraded by reading or speaking other languages.**

 **Legilimency: 0 / 1000**

 **Legilimency allows you to invade other people's minds. For every 10 points, Harry gains a + 1% chance of successfully entering a character's mind without them noticing. When fully mastered, Harry can access other minds at all times without being noticed. Can be upgraded by reading books, using Legilimency or taking lessons.**

 **Non-Verbal Magic: 0 / 1000**

 **Non-Verbal Magic enables Harry to silently cast spells. For every 100 points, Harry advances to the next higher tier of spells to the cast non-verbally. Can be upgraded by practicing, reading or using a spell.**

 **Occlumency: 0 / 1000**

 **Occlumency shields your mind from others. For every 10 points, Harry gains + 1% to the shield protecting his mind from invaders. Can be upgraded by meditating, reading, actively keeping out intruders and taking lessons. When fully mastered, Harry's mind is shielded from all attacks.**

 **Perpetuum Mobile: 0 / 1000**

 **Rest, who needs rest? For every 100 points, Harry needs 5% less sleep and using magic requires 5% less Endurance. When fully mastered, Harry no longer needs to sleep and magic no longer requires Endurance. Can be upgraded by meditating and athletic exercises such as running or swimming.**

 **Potions: 0 / 1000**

 **Potions affects the difficulty of potions Harry is able to learn. For every 100 points, Harry will be able to advance to the next higher tier*. When fully mastered, Potions gives + 25% resistance to all potions. Can be upgraded by attending lessons, completing homework, reading or brewing. (The skill requires the following to unlock: Potions Lesson)**

 **Shield: 0 / 1000**

 **Shield boosts your shield charm, giving you the option to deflect even stronger spells, excluding Unforgivables. For every 100 points, Harry's shield charm gets a + 5% boost. When fully mastered, Harry can deflect all spells except the three Unforgivables. Can be upgraded by using the shield charm.**

 **Silver Tongue: 0 / 1000**

 **You know what you want and you'll get it. For every 100 points, Harry gets a + 5% persuasion boost. When fully mastered, people will do whatever you say without questioning your intentions, if their Charisma Level is lower than yours. Can be upgraded by reading all of Gilderoy Lockhart's books (each book is worth 83.3 points).**

 **Spell Mastery: 0 / 1000**

 **Spell Mastery affects the speed at which Harry learns new spells, the success-rate of performing not yet mastered spells and their power. For every 100 points, the learning speed and success-rate are improved by + 5% while the Strength boost 'Spell Power' doubles. When fully mastered, Harry learns every spell on his first attempt. Can be upgraded by practicing spells or using them outside of lessons.**

 **Stealth: 0 / 1000**

 **Stealth shows how well you can sneak around. For every 100 points, Harry makes 10% less noise when walking and others pay 5% less attention to him. When fully mastered, Harry can literally make himself invisible. Can be upgraded by sneaking around.**

 **Transfiguration: 0 / 1000**

 **Transfiguration affects the difficulty of transfiguration spells Harry is able to learn. For every 100 points, Harry will be able to advance to the next higher tier. When fully mastered, Transfiguration gives + 25% offence for all transfiguration spells. Can be upgraded by attending lessons, completing homework, reading or transfiguring objects. (The skill requires the following to unlock: Transfiguration Lesson)**

 **Wandless Magic: 0 / 1000**

 **Wandless Magic enables Harry to cast spells without having to use his wand. For every 100 points, Harry advances to the next higher tier of spells to the cast wandlessly. Can be upgraded by practicing, reading or using a spell.**

The good thing was that he could upgrade his skills independently from levelling up, which meant that he could very well have mastered Spell Mastery or any other subject to learn better spells. On the other hand, he'd probably spend a lot, a LOT of time either in the library or practicing in an empty classroom with the inevitable consequence of neglecting his hobbies and, possibly, his friends – unless they wanted to join him, that was.

 _Until I attend Hogwarts, I only have 13 skills available – three of which require me to travel to Diagon Alley. Perhaps it's time to figure out how to reply to my acceptance letter…_

Under normal circumstances, Harry would need an owl to send a reply to Professor McGonagall or whoever was responsible for first year students. So far, however, he had neither gotten the chance to buy an owl, nor were there any randomly flying around in Little Whinging.

Just as he wanted to go to his inventory, another tutorial message popped up:

 **TUTORIAL**

 **Spells are divided into eight tiers, depending on their difficulty.**

 **Tier 1 (0 – 100): All spells taught in the first year at Hogwarts.**

 **Tier 2 (101 – 200): All spells taught in the second year at Hogwarts.**

 **Tier 3 (201 – 300): All spells taught in the third year at Hogwarts.**

 **Tier 4 (301 – 400): All spells taught in the fourth year at Hogwarts.**

 **Tier 5 (401 – 500): All spells taught in the fifth year at Hogwarts.**

 **Tier 6 (501 – 600): All spells taught in the sixth year at Hogwarts.**

 **Tier 7 (601 – 700): All spells taught in the seventh year at Hogwarts.**

 **Tier 8 (701 – 1000) All spells not taught at Hogwarts.**

 **Mastering a tier will allow Harry to advance to the next higher one.**

 **Note: Each subject has to be mastered individually!**

Viewing things from a realistic angle, no first year would be able to immediately cast a spell taught in NEWT classes, so Harry had to give credit to whoever was responsible for designing the game for keeping this relatively believable. On the other hand, it would have been much easier for him, if he could already use the spells he'd learned during his time in Hogwarts.

 _Nothing comes without a price,_ Harry thought with a shrug. _Although it'll mean double the workload for me. If I tried to cast Lumos after buying my wand, would I even be able to considering that I can only unlock Charms by attending my first lesson?_

When the game remained silent – something Harry was used to by now – he decided that he'd have to wait and find out himself. Right now, however, he wanted to check on his Hogwarts letter again; the one he'd surprisingly gotten for helping the mailman instead of having to wait for Hagrid to show up.

 _Maybe they would have sent someone else to take me to Diagon Alley, if I hadn't opened my letter in front of the Dursleys. One more thing on my long list of stupid and unnecessary actions – at least, I can now be sure that that won't happen again._

Taking the letter out of his inventory, Harry scanned the parchment with his eyes, turned it around to see if there was something written on the back and even double-checked the envelope just in case he'd missed some super important detail of how to send a reply. Nothing.

 _How the heck am I supposed to send an answer, if I don't have an owl? By express reply!?_

 **Express Reply sent.**

 **You've successfully sent a reply to your first Hogwarts letter. Please note that your Professors will need 2 – 3 working days to respond.**

 **Quick Reply – You've sent your first Express Reply: + 20 XP, + 20 Galleons**

 **Bonus: Intelligence Level 5! + 5% XP**

 **Total gain: + 21 XP**

Harry blinked. _I made a joke._

He knew that some Muggle companies offered express delivery, but that the wizarding world also offered this kind of service was new to him.

 _It was probably designed for the game. Though, if I'd had this the first time around, maybe I would have known who I am_ before _Uncle Vernon dragged us all along on his mad trip to the cabin in the middle of the ocean._

Harry sighed and rubbed his eyes, safely storing away the letter in his inventory. He was exhausted – from completing quests, reading and trying not to bang his head against a brick wall (he'd been tested repeatedly during some conversations today).

He finally had his skills unlocked and his cooking abilities seemed to not be entirely useless. The only thing that had surprised him was his flying skill, which was still at zero. He'd been made the youngest Seeker in over a century because Quidditch was one of his few talents and now he was basically starting from scratch.

 _Maybe it's half as bad as I think it is,_ he thought with a yawn and left the bathroom wrapped in a baby blue towel. _Tomorrow, I'll start working on my skills. I just hope that Professor McGonagall doesn't take too much time with her reply – I need my wand and those damn books from Diagon Alley!_

 **HARRY POTTER**

 **Level: 5**

 **XP: 5021 / 7500**

 **Health: 85 / 300**

 **Endurance: 100 / 100**

 **#**

 **ATTRIBUTES**

 **Strength – 0**

 **Perception – 1**

 **Endurance – 1**

 **Charisma – 5**

 **Intelligence – 5**

 **Agility – 1**

 **Luck – 2**

 **#**

 **PERSONALITY TRAITS**

 **Ambitious: 10 / 100**

 **Adventurous: 25 / 100**

 **Brave: 20 / 100**

 **Cunning: 10 / 100**

 **Confidence: 10 / 100**

 **Dark: 5 / 100**

 **Diplomatic: 5 / 100**

 **Fair: 11 / 100**

 **Funny: 5 / 100**

 **Hard-Working: 40 / 100**

 **Helpful: 60 / 100**

 **Honest: 25 / 100**

 **Intelligent: 11 / 100**

 **Kind: 40 / 100**

 **Loyal: 10 / 100**

 **Polite: 40 / 100**

 **Rebellious: 18 / 100**

 **Respectful: 32 / 100**

 **Selfless: 32 / 100**

 **Sensitive: 15 / 100**

 **Tolerant: 20 / 100**

 **Temperamental: 39 / 100**

 **#**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATS**

 **Petunia Dursley: 100 / 1000**

 **Vernon Dursley: 85 / 1000**

 **Dudley Dursley: 95 / 1000**

 **Piers Polkiss: 60 / 1000**

 **Mrs. Figg: 300 / 1000**

 **#**

 **BONUS ITEMS**

 **Keen Explorer: + 5% XP for each discovered location**

 **Intelligence Level 5: + 5% XP**

* * *

 **I hope you all liked what I did here! :) Feel free to voice your opinion in a review. Chapter 3 will be up soon! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey! :)**

 **I now it's taken me a few days to update but today was the first day I found enough time to finish this chapter. I'm trying to include your suggestions and if you have more ideas or find mistakes, please let me know!**

 **As previously suggested, I'll be posting Harry's stats in a different chapter from now on. For those of you who don't care about them, simply skip these chapters and go on reading the next ones.**

 **Anyway, have fun reading and - as always - let me know what you think! ;)**

* * *

The old alarm clock on his nightstand rudely awakened Harry the next morning. It was just eight minutes past six when he tiptoed to the bathroom on the upper floor, careful not to wake the Dursleys, and got ready for another quest-filled day.

He'd earned a total of 3.363 galleons so far, a mighty sum for having been resurrected only seventy-two hours ago but Harry couldn't complain; everything he earned would be reinvested in school supplies and other useful equipment. Everything he'd need to defeat Voldemort.

After combing his unruly black hair, only to find out that it looked exactly as messy as ever, Harry tiptoed back down the stairs and into the kitchen where he wanted to have a quick breakfast before he'd venture out to gain more XP.

He hadn't even gotten past his cousin's second room, when the door to his aunt and uncle's bedroom flew open and a grumpy-looking Uncle Vernon stepped into the corridor. It took the man a few seconds to realise that his nephew – the most hated person in this patchwork family – stood frozen at the top of the stairs, staring back at him wide-eyed.

"What the hell do you think you're doing sneaking through the house, boy!" he bellowed without wasting a single thought about the other two persons still snoring in their beds. "Thought, I wouldn't notice, did you? Ha! Wrong, boy, deadly wrong – now go back to your cupboard! I don't want to see your face again today, am I clear?!"

 **Your relationship with Vernon Dursley has decreased!**

"Yes, Uncle Vernon!" Harry breathed, almost stumbling down the stairs in a hurry to get away from his uncle's dangerously purple face.

"Damn it!" he cursed and kicked the nightstand back in his cupboard.

Everything had gone so smoothly! He'd completed quests, had taken extra care not to mess up his relationship with the Dursleys – Aunt Petunia had even helped him find the med kit – and now this!

 **TUTORIAL**

 **Harry has gotten cupboard arrest for sneaking around! You can leave the cupboard at any time – make sure not to get caught though or the door to the outside world won't be unlocked until one of your relatives has mercy and lets you out!**

 **Tipp: Try not to get caught when sneaking around! A higher Sneaking skill will lessen the risk of other characters noticing you!**

Harry sighed. Cupboard arrest. From past experiences that included three meagre meals – usually cold canned soup for lunch and a small slice of dry bread for breakfast and dinner, each accompanied by a glass of water.

 _Great. Well done, Harry, well done! Just because Aunt Petunia helped you once doesn't mean she or anyone else in this godforsaken family will do so again – at least try to remember that in the future!_

Of course, his stats had changed now that he'd been caught:

 **PERSONALITY TRAITS**

 **Ambitious: 10 / 100**

 **Adventurous: 26 / 100**

 **Brave: 20 / 100**

 **Cunning: 10 / 100**

 **Confidence: 10 / 100**

 **Dark: 5 / 100**

 **Diplomatic: 5 / 100**

 **Fair: 11 / 100**

 **Funny: 5 / 100**

 **Hard-Working: 40 / 100**

 **Helpful: 60 / 100**

 **Honest: 24 / 100**

 **Intelligent: 11 / 100**

 **Kind: 40 / 100**

 **Loyal: 10 / 100**

 **Polite: 40 / 100**

 **Rebellious: 20 / 100**

 **Respectful: 34 / 100**

 **Selfless: 32 / 100**

 **Sensitive: 15 / 100**

 **Tolerant: 20 / 100**

 **Temperamental: 39 / 100**

 **#**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATS**

 **Petunia Dursley: 100 / 1000**

 **Vernon Dursley: 83 / 1000**

 **Dudley Dursley: 95 / 1000**

 **Piers Polkiss: 60 / 1000**

 **Mrs. Figg: 300 / 1000**

It wasn't much but Harry was at his wit's end about how to ever improve his relationship with his relatives. Nothing he seemed to do really had a positive influence on it, but if he didn't do anything at all – or worse, talked back – the stats started to decrease.

At least he had his cooking book – it wasn't what he'd planned on doing for the day but it was better than nothing and so Harry threw himself onto his bed, leaning his back against the wall and took the item in question out of his inventory.

"Cooking for dummies," he read upon opening the first page. "You wouldn't know a sausage from a poisonous snake but are desperately trying not to starve to death? Despair no longer! Norman Kingfisher will teach YOU how to throw together a meal with the most basic ingredients!"

Harry had never before heard of a guy called Norman Kingfisher even though Dudley and his mother loved to watch every cooking show broadcast on TV.

The ceiling of the cupboard groaned under Uncle Vernon's weight as he heaved his extensive body mass down the stairs and walked past Harry's door with an annoyed snort.

 _So much for a good beginning… Maybe Aunt Petunia will be in a better mood when she wakes up._

Right now, however, all Harry could do was concentrate on reading Mr. Kingfisher's book, hoping to increase his cooking skills – the only positive thing to look forward to on this dull morning.

The text was boring, the pictures mouth-watering in a mercilessly torturous way and Kingfisher's advice a mixture between helpful and annoyingly sarcastic.

 _How dim-witted does he think his readers are? 'Of course, you'll need a knife to cut your onions! Unless you're Edward Scissorhands, that is – then you can always use your fingers!' Maybe someone should call this guy and tell him that wizards can also use their wands…_

To Harry, the fact that he'd found the book in a trash can became increasingly understandable the more chapters he read. Under normal circumstances, he would have thrown it back to where he'd taken it from never to waste a single thought about it ever again, but now that he'd have to spent the entire day in his cupboard, reading was his only option to kill time.

Harry sighed. This was going to be a very, very long day…

Aunt Petunia, who avoided to look at him entirely whenever she brought him something to eat, was kind enough to add a little bit of cheese to the two slices of bread she served him for breakfast and dinner.

When she returned for the third time – the only indicator that it was close to nightfall – Harry, starving, greedily bolted down his food, before handing her back the empty plate and returning to reading the last three chapters of the book.

Being able to spend an entire day honing a single skill – even if said skill wasn't useful in fighting Lord Voldemort (unless Harry could impress the Dark Lord with outstandingly delicious meals enough to change his allegiance) – proved to be very effective. By the time he was finished with the last chapter, his cooking skill had increased to a total of 260 points – a little over a fourth of what he needed to master this particular skill.

 _All right, considering that I spent an entire day doing nothing but reading Kingfisher's book of sarcasm, gaining 250 points isn't really a lot._

Then he groaned, pressing his face into his pillow. If it already took him this long to get a fourth of his cooking skill, how long would it take him to upgrade the others? There were thirty of them! How was he supposed to manage all that while trying not to die _and_ defeat the darkest wizard of modern history?

 _Think, Harry, think… My friends could help me with – wait a second… I already know about the upcoming war and horcruxes… If I found the DA a few years earlier, I could teach them enough to help me destroy Voldemort! Sure, we'd have to rename our little club, but –_

 **Clubs are unavailable at the moment.**

 **Tipp: To unlock Clubs, your skill Silver Tongue has to exceed 500 points!**

Another exasperated groan. Judging from how long it took him to reach 260 points in cooking, 500 points would mean another two days of upgrading a skill! The worst part – Silver Tongue required him to read _all_ of Gilderoy Lockhart's published books.

 _He didn't even write them himself! Maybe that's the reason why they are meant to upgrade a skill that'll perfect my lying and persuasion abilities – if someone is able to fool the entire wizarding community, they_ have _to be a master in tricking and… well… memory charms…_

On the positive side, he'd get everything he needed in Diagon Alley and since school wouldn't start until September, Harry would have enough time to _finish_ reading Lockhart's books.

 _Will that make me the ultimate master to manipulation? Wait – Silver Tongue only works, if someone's below my Charisma level, right? Yeah… Still, most students shouldn't pose a problem._

Then, a sly smile crept onto his features. He could found clubs, which also included the DA – renamed to prevent any association with Dumbledore – which, in return, should further increase his relationship with his friends and other students.

Harry didn't want to go as far as Voldemort and brand them with a mark that would bind them to him, but he could form an alternative to the Order of the Phoenix; one that wasn't controlled by the Headmaster but by Harry himself.

And just like that, the originally worst day in his life had turned into one of a promising-looking future.

Another positive – and rather surprising – thing that Harry discovered two days later, when Uncle Vernon's mood had lightened up enough to end his cupboard arrest, was that he could remember every single recipe he'd read about in Kingfisher's 'Cooking for dummies'. Heck, he didn't even have to think about anything! It was as if his body was moving on its own, collecting ingredients, boiling or frying food to perfection and using just enough seasoning to give his meals that extra taste. The Dursleys, who seemed equally surprised, fortunately accepted the fact that the Potter boy was a culinary mastermind – to be fair, they couldn't see his stats – and silently ate their breakfast. Harry also had two additional quests having been promoted to kitchen chef, a title that had belonged solely to his aunt, and was now responsible for helping her prepare lunch and dinner. It restricted him in moving around freely as he now had to be home an hour before each meal, which gave him less time to complete other quests but Harry was still hunting for XP and even cooking would give him a total of 120 per day.

He was doing the dishes when the sound of the mail slot clicking and flopping of letters on the doormat could be heard.

"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper just as his son was about to leave for his bedroom.

"Make Harry get it," Dudley whined, clearly not in the mood for making more steps than absolutely necessary.

 _One day, you're going to regret not exercising enough, Diddy-dums,_ Harry thought, remembering the diet Dudley would be put on in about four years from now.

"Get the mail, Harry."

"Yes, Uncle Vernon," Harry replied, dried his hands and obediently went to fetch the letters.

 **Your relationship with Vernon Dursley has increased!**

He took some comfort in knowing that doing what he was being told would increase his relationship with his relatives. It was hard not to talk back or roll his eyes, but Harry really was trying to improve things this time around.

There were three letters on the doormat; a bill for Uncle Vernon, a washing machine ad and – a letter for Harry!

Smirking, he hid it under his baggy shirt, making sure that nobody would notice the silhouette sticking out from underneath his clothes and went back to the kitchen.

"What were you doing, checking for letter bombs?" Uncle Vernon chuckled at his own joke as Harry handed him the mail.

Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust and put it back in the envelope.

"They're getting greedier each year, I'm telling you, Petunia!" he complained. "If we don't do something about them soon, they'll double their prices!"

Harry had no idea what he was talking about and, honestly, he didn't care. There was a letter waiting for him and the sooner he finished cleaning up, the sooner he would get to read it. Dudley, meanwhile, had heaved his body mass up the stairs and shut his bedroom door with a loud 'BANG' that made his mother flinch. Harry was sure that he'd have gotten a good yelling at, had he done the same – but Dudley was Aunt Petunia's little prince and would even get away with murder, if his motives were reasonable enough.

As soon as Harry had finished, he set off to leave the kitchen, when his aunt stopped him. "Don't forget to be back for lunch!"

He nodded, assuring her that he'd be punctual, before retreating to his cupboard. Fortunately, it was a relatively cool summer, which meant that the house didn't heat up as badly and Harry wasn't lying in his bed with sweat pouring down his back.

Making sure that no-one was around to accidentally burst in, Harry took out the now wrinkled envelope and opened it:

 _Dear Mr. Potter,_

 _We have received your letter and are hereby informing you that a member of the Hogwarts staff will arrive at your home on Friday, 29_ _th_ _August, at 10 am._

 _Please be ready to leave for your errands by then._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Minerva McGonagall_

 _Deputy Headmistress_

 **Cunning – You successfully sneaked a letter to your room: +10 XP, + 20 Galleons**

 **Bonus: Intelligence Level 5! + 5% XP**

 **Total gain: + 10 XP**

 _29_ _th_ _August!? But that's only three days away from the start of the new school term! How am I supposed to read_ all _of Lockhart's books in three days – two, if I spend an entire day in Diagon Alley!_

This was definitely _not_ how he'd planned things. First of all, the 29th was still two months away and all Harry could do was grind for XP by completing exhausting quests that required him to have the endurance of a marathon athlete.

 **Tipp: Are you tired of waiting? No problem! You can fast-forward time to skip long waiting periods!**

 **TUTORIAL**

 **Fast-forwarding time allows you to jump forward in time! Be careful though – Harry won't be able to complete quests and his relationship with others will decrease, if he ignores their letters!**

 **(This feature is unavailable when using a time turner)**

 **Let's try it out! Simply think** ** _'fast-forward to…'_** **and insert the date and time you want to jump to! For now, let's choose** ** _29_** ** _th_** ** _August, 9:45 am_** **!**

 _What? No! I don't want to jump forward in time! Skip the tutorial! I said SKIP THE TUTORIAL!_

But the game was persistent. No matter how angry he got, the world around him remained frozen like someone had put it to sleep and only Harry could awaken it.

"Arrrggh!" he screamed. "Fine! Fast-forward to 29th August at 9:45 am! Can we please go on now?"

There was a light pull in his stomach, similar to side-long apparition but less severe, and for a moment he thought that nothing had happened. Confused, Harry slowly opened the door to his cupboard and peeked out into the hall but since it had already been morning by the time he opened his letter, there was absolutely no change in lightning. The house was dead silent.

Harry was puzzled. The Dursleys didn't sleep in – never. During the summer holidays, breakfast was at nine o'clock sharp, no exceptions and since Dudley had the appetite of a baby whale, he wouldn't miss a single meal.

Then, where was everyone?

The clock above the kitchen counter told him that it was exactly 9:47 am, thirteen minutes until one of his former teachers would arrive to buy his supplies.

There was a small note on the kitchen table: _Are spending the last two weeks of Dudley's holidays on Majorca. Food is in the refrigerator. IF YOU BLOW UP THE HOUSE, BOY, YOU'LL SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE IN YOUR CUPBOARD! We'll be back on the 31_ _st_ _. No funny business, am I clear!?_

The first part was unmistakably written in his aunt's neat handwriting, while Uncle Vernon's large letters concluded the message with a shout.

 _I'm glad that this isn't a howler… So, the Dursleys have gone to Majorca and left me alone for two weeks and I only have two more days to take advantage of it because I fast-forwarded time – great, just great! I'll probably never get that chance again!_

Harry sighed and put the note back on the table. Dwelling on something he couldn't change anymore wouldn't do him any good – yes, it was frustrating and, yes, he would have loved to try out Dudley's new computer, but right now he needed to focus on his upcoming trip to Diagon Alley.

 _I better write a check-list of things I need, otherwise I'll forget the most important stuff…_

Fortunately, Harry was already dressed for the day, which gave him the full last five minutes to note down everything he'd need, until someone would pick him up and take him to London.

The doorbell rang.

Harry quickly grabbed his list of supplies – which had been expanded by a couple of items – slipped into his shoes, took the key from the dresser in the hallway and hurried to open the front door.

"Ah, good morning – Mr. Potter, I assume?" It was Professor Sinistra, his former Astronomy teacher, dressed in her usual midnight blue robes, who greeted him at the porch.

"Good morning, Professor," Harry said politely, albeit a little bit disappointed that Hagrid hadn't been sent to take him this time. "Thank you for picking me up today."

He hadn't been very close to Professor Sinistra and apart from the fact that she taught his Astronomy class, didn't know very much about her.

"It's our job to make sure all of our students are taken care of, Mr. Potter," she replied smiling. "Professor McGonagall mentioned you having trouble getting to London?"

Harry had no idea how much his former Head of House knew. The express reply he'd accidentally sent two months prior had been automatically generated and the game hadn't told him what it had entailed.

"Err, yes, my relatives…" he hesitated, not sure what to say. There was no special dialogue wheel so Harry suspected that it was either too early to ask her about whatever secrets she was keeping, or she simply didn't know anything worthwhile.

 _Now would be the right time to use your glasses, Harry – something you should have done ages ago, by the way…_

Right, his glasses – the only reason he'd chosen them this time around was that they allowed him to see other people's stats.

 **TUTORIAL**

 **To view other people's stats, touch the right arm of your glasses once. Do the same to blend their stats out again.**

He did and was surprised to see a small window pop up next to Professor Sinistra's head that read:

 **Aurora Sinistra**

 **Level: 83**

 **Health: 4200 / 4200**

 **Relationship Status: 300 / 1000**

 **Difficulty: 30**

 **Tipp: Upgrade you glasses to view more stats!**

Harry gained one attribute point per level – one. How was he supposed to reach level 30 in the near future? He was 25 Charisma levels short of being able to manipulate her once he mastered his Silver Tongue skill.

 _If Professor Sinistra's Charisma level is 30, how difficult will be the other professors? – Get back to the conversation, Harry, or she'll think you're slow._

"My relatives aren't exactly thrilled that I'm a wizard and refused to take me to London," Harry finally said, opting for a half-truth. In his previous life, they really had hated him for being who he was – a freak in their eyes; but right now, Harry wasn't even sure, if they knew that he'd received his Hogwarts letter.

 _Maybe they'll return from their holidays and refuse to take me to King's Cross! What am I supposed to do then?_

"Err, Professor?" Harry asked. "How do I get to the train, if my aunt and uncle don't want to take me to London? I mean, they really, really hate magic and everything that's not… well, _normal_ … They won't want me to go to Hogwarts."

Professor Sinistra looked at him for a moment, a mix of concern and thoughtfulness passing across her features.

"I can arrange for someone to pick you up, Mr. Potter," she said, looking him over once again. "I will take the matter to the Headmaster, but I want you to send an owl immediately, if you have any more trouble with your relatives, okay?"

Harry nodded. She was surprisingly nice and open to offer him help, if he needed it. The only question was how far she'd go, if he really was in trouble – would she send someone to take him away from the Dursleys? Dumbledore hadn't and Harry was sure that he'd known just how badly Harry's relatives were treating their nephew.

"Thank you, Professor, I'll keep that in mind."

 **Your relationship with Aurora Sinistra has increased!**

 _Really? That's easier than trying to get Aunt Petunia to like me!_

"All right, then – are you ready to leave? Do you have your list?" Professor Sinistra asked and stretched out her arm when he nodded, holding up the piece of parchment Professor McGonagall had sent him. "Very well, take my hand, Mr. Potter, we'll apparate to Diagon Alley. The fastest and easiest way to travel. But you'll have to enter through the Leaky Cauldron, if you want to venture there on your own."

Side-long apparition. Oh, how he hated it; the feeling of being sucked into a whirlwind of images while the contents of his stomach were turned upside down.

Luckily, the experience lasted only a few seconds and Harry, who was already used to travelling this way, managed to land on relatively steady legs.

Professor Sinistra made sure that the colour had returned to his face, before she gave him a map and pointed out that they'd first be going to Gringotts, the wizarding bank, to withdraw some money.

"Goblins are not a species to be trifled with, Mr. Potter," she informed him. "You better stay close and let me do the talking."

 **New area unlocked: Diagon Alley! + 1000 XP**

 **Bonus: Intelligence Level 5! + 5% XP**

 **Keen Explorer! + 5% XP**

 **Total gain: + 1100 XP**

 **New Quest: Purchase your school supplies!**

Diagon Alley was bustling with people. It was so unlike the deserted, dark place Harry remembered from his previous year that he felt immediately reminded of his first time stepping foot onto the cobbled stones.

A smile tugged at his lips as he followed the professor to the snow-white building at the end of the street. This was heaven! Being surrounded by other witches and wizards dressed in colourful robes, all kinds of animals sneaking around their legs and dozens of shops displaying their goods for everyone to see. The distinct smell of parchment, fresh ink, herbs and food filled the air and Harry had never felt more at home in the wizarding world – _his world_.

The visit to Gringotts went similar to when Hagrid had taken him there seven years ago, only that Professor Sinistra handed the small golden key to the old Goblin behind the counter and Brodgras accompanied them to the underground vaults, not Griphook.

Harry enjoyed the cool air and roller coaster-like ride in the cart. It reminded him of flying on a broomstick, his favourite pastime and it cost him some effort to hold back the laugh building up in his throat.

"Vault six-hundred-eighty-seven," Brodgras announced as the cart came to a sudden halt.

Harry jumped out as the Goblin unlocked the heavy iron door – and stared.

There was a single heap of galleons in the vault, no sickles or knuts… just galleons.

"W-what?" Harry stammered, completely taken aback by the lack of money in the oversized room.

"It's all yours, Mr. Potter," Professor Sinistra said with an encouraging smile. "Take as much as you need."

She handed him a small leather pouch. Harry, still shocked by his newest discovery, took it and stared back at the galleons in front of him.

"Where did all the money go?" he stammered once again, shaking his head. "Didn't – didn't my parents leave me anything to secure my future?"

"Galleons are not transferable to other wizards," Brodgras replied in a monotone voice. "They can only be earned by completing quests. If you do not have sufficient funds, ask another wizard to do your purchases or apply for a loan. Loans can be raised to a maximum of 50.000 galleons to be paid back within five years after signing the contract. Would Mr. Harry Potter like to apply for a loan?"

Harry stared at him. "No, thanks, I don't want to apply for a loan… I-I'll just take what I have here."

He was sure that Griphook had never mentioned anything about loans when Hagrid had taken him to Gringotts. It had to be another one of the game's new features that Harry would have to get used to.

He shovelled ten hands full of galleons into the small pouch, which had to have been magically expanded because the money simply vanished in it.

"Would you like to finish your withdrawal?" the Goblin asked as Harry stepped back.

"Err, yes, please."

"Very well," Brodgras replied, locking the iron door. "Your current balance amounts to 1.011 galleons."

They got back into the cart that would bring them back to the surface. Apparently, Harry had withdrawn a little over 2000 galleons – enough to last several years, if he didn't make any super expensive purchases.

Unfortunately, as he soon found out after Professor Sinistra had allowed him to venture off on his own until they'd meet in front of Gringotts again when it was time to go home, 2000 galleons wasn't nearly enough to buy anything but the most basic supplies.

Harry decided to start with Madam Malkin's, a well-known store with a good reputation where most witches and wizards bought their robes.

"Hello, dear," the round witch greeted him with her usual broad smile. "First time Hogwarts, I assume? Well, why don't you follow me to the back, dearie, I've got everything you need in my store."

And she did. The name _Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions_ became an entirely new meaning upon looking at her very, very impressive inventory. There were summer robes, winter robes, elegant robes, hiking, exploration, brewing and duelling robes, robes that changed the wearer's appearance or made them look taller… and the prices were… unreasonably high, found Harry.

"100 galleons for a simple school uniform?" he asked incredulously.

"Well, we have to live from something, my dear," Madam Malkin said with a deep laugh. "What did you think, that you'd get your robes for free?"

Harry quickly used his glasses to check her stats. She was a level 42 witch, difficulty level 17, which meant that he still didn't have sufficient Charisma to barter even though the dialogue wheel gave him that option. However, because he'd known Madam Malkin to be a polite and respectable witch, Harry refrained from trying to get a lower price for his robes. He was afraid that she'd turn on him and throw him out, if he tried anything.

While he was waiting for her to take his measures – there was no Malfoy this time around who'd probably gotten the best of the best from his father, something that made Harry's stomach churn at the unfairness of the distribution of money – he took another glimpse at Madam Malkin's inventory.

 **Basic School Uniform (100 Galleons):**

 **Armor: + 0.5%**

 **Attack: + 0.1%**

 **Bonus: none**

It was the worst she had to offer but since he also needed to purchase a whole bunch of other things, Harry wanted to safe his money – he could always come back later, if he had some of it left.

The most expensive piece of clothing, _The Conqueror_ , a dark-red and traditional-looking duelling outfit cost the hefty sum of 50.000 galleons!

 **The Conqueror (50.000 Galleons):**

 **Armor: + 75%**

 **Attack: + 70%**

 **Speed: + 50%**

 **Bonus: Strength + 5, Perception: + 10, Endurance + 5, Charisma + 5, Intelligence + 5, Agility + 10, Luck + 5**

 **Tipp: You can upgrade your equipment with enchantments or special runes!**

Harry sighed. When had prices gone up like that? His first school uniform had cost a fifth of the one he was about to purchase now!

"All right, that's you done, dearie," Madam Malkin said fifteen minutes later and Harry hopped off the stool. "Anything else?"

In the end, he left the store with an additional set of winter robes and a travelling cloak, which had cost him another 200 galleons. Harry began to calculate. He had 2.082 galleons left.

Next, he visited the Apothecary even though it was pretty much at the other end of Diagon Alley but since potions ingredients were something he could also get at Hogwarts, if need be, Harry only bought what was required on the list.

 _HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

 _UNIFORM_

 _First-year students will require:_

 _1._ _Three sets of plain work robes (black) – check_

 _2._ _One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear – check_

 _3._ _One pair of protective gloves (dragonhide or similar) - check_

 _4._ _One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings) – check_

 _Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags._

 _COURSE BOOKS_

 _All students should have a copy of each of the following:_

 _1._ _The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk_

 _2._ _A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot_

 _3._ _Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling_

 _4._ _A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch_

 _5._ _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore_

 _6._ _Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger_

 _7._ _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamader_

 _8._ _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble_

 _OTHER EQUIPMENT_

 _1._ _1 wand_

 _2._ _1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) – check_

 _3._ _1 set of glass or crystal phials – check_

 _4._ _1 telescope set – check_

 _5._ _1 brass scales – check_

 _Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad._

 _PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST-YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS._

Harry checked his list once again as he set off to buy his books at _Flourish and Blotts_ – one of Hermione's favourite stores. He had 1500 galleons left and wanted to make sure he had all the literature he needed before purchasing his wand and pet – Hedwig was who he was hoping for, praying that she hadn't already been taken by someone else.

Getting a hold of his course books was easy, they practically screamed at him to take them off the shelves as he strolled through the store. Lockhart's published copies were displayed at the front with a 5% discount, if a customer purchased the whole set – something Harry was about to do, his ears matching the colour of tomatoes as a young witch caught him holding an edition of _Magical Me_ in his hand and started giggling.

 _The things you do for levelling-up your skills… All right, where do they keep 'Weightlifting for Wizards'?_

It took him about half an hour to find all the books he had added to his list.

"That'll be 360 galleons," the elderly wizard behind the counter said.

It was half past four by the time Harry walked out of _Eeylops Owl Emporium_ , carrying a large golden cage with a sleeping snowy owl in it and a broad smile plastered on his face. He'd found her, his Hedwig – the companion who'd given her life to save him. To his surprise, Harry had discovered that Hedwig was also able to level-up, giving him an Intelligence bonus of + 1 per level.

"They won't lock you up again, I promise," he whispered to the sleeping owl who lazily opened one of her amber eyes and hooted softly as if to show him that she had understood.

Harry smiled at her and slowly made his way to Ollivander's, his last stop for the day. As he passed by a woman who helped a young boy his age carry his belongings, Harry suddenly realised that he hadn't completed a single side-quest the entire time. He'd been so busy looking for his own school supplies that he hadn't even taken the time to check the area for quests or assignments!

 _It's too late to do anything anyway…_

Of course, he could always come back tomorrow, but since he'd originally planned on increasing his Silver Tongue skill, Harry would be spending the next two days reading books in his cupboard.

The narrow and shabby shop of Mr. Ollivander was the last one before the Leaky Cauldron. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window – not very trustworthy-looking for a renowned wandmaker.

Harry entered, spotting Mr. Ollivander immediately behind the counter as the elderly wizard handed a newly wrapped narrow box to a middle-aged witch with dark-blond hair.

"A very fine choice you've made, Mrs. Attwater," he said softly, his pale eyes twinkling joyfully. "Very elegant, excellent for even the most complex charms."

Mrs. Attwater nodded and bid her farewell, giving Harry a polite smile as she walked past him and exited the store.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Potter," Mr. Ollivander said, his eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop. "Ah yes, yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon."

"Hello," Harry said a little bit awkwardly. "I'm here to purchase my wand."

"Yes, most young witches and wizards come to Ollivander's to buy only the finest wands." He studied Harry curiously. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."

Similar to Harry's first visit, Mr. Ollivander moved closer until he stood directly in front of him.

"Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favoured it – it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course." Mr. Ollivander had come so close that Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes. "And that's where…"

Mr. Ollivander stretched out one of his pale hands, his fingers ghosting over the lightning scar on Harry's forehead. Harry just wished he would stop.

"It was a long time ago," Harry replied steadily, taking a step back. "I hardly remember it."

"Ah, of course, forgive the intrusions of an old man, Mr. Potter, I did not mean to overstep my boundaries." He sighed. "Hmmm – well, now, Mr. Potter, let me see. Which is your wand arm?"

"I'm right-handed, sir," Harry replied, relieved that Mr. Ollivander had decided to drop the subject of Voldemort and his parents.

The silver tape measure immediately went to work while its master told Harry about wand wood and cores, flitting around the shelves in the back of the store and taking down boxes.

"That will do," he said and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. It is time to choose your wand."

 **TUTORIAL**

 **Choosing his first wand is an important experience for Harry. He may win wands in duels throughout the game, but his own will give him the most benefits. You can freely choose which wand wood you would like to have, but Harry is required to have a Phoenix feather core given his history with Voldemort.**

A new window popped up, displaying a list of every wand wood available in Mr. Ollivander's shop and Harry swallowed. Then his eyes fell on one particular word: Elder.

 **ELDER**

 **The rarest wand wood of all, and reputed to be deeply unlucky, the elder wand is trickier to master than any other. It contains powerful magic, but scorns to remain with any owner who is not the superior of his or her company; it takes a remarkable wizard to keep the elder wand for any length of time. The old superstition, 'wand of elder, never prosper,' has its basis in this fear of the wand, but in fact, the superstition is baseless, and those foolish wandmakers who refuse to work with elder do so more because they doubt they will be able to sell their products than from fear of working with this wood. The truth is that only a highly unusual person will find their perfect match in elder, and on the rare occasion when such a pairing occurs, I take it as certain that the witch or wizard in question is marked out for a special destiny.**

Harry paused. He could buy an Elder wand at Mr. Ollivander's?

 **Bonuses:**

 **Attack: + 50%**

 **Defense: + 50%**

To make sure that he made the right choice, Harry scrolled through the list again. Fir and Vine wood also looked good but, ultimately, Harry decided to stick with his first choice – the Elder wand.

 **Are you sure you would like to purchase 'Elder'?**

 _Yes._

200 galleons were deducted from his pouch, leaving Harry with only 300 galleons left. The low price surprised him a little, but the game didn't seem to mind at all, giving him huge discount because when he looked at Ollivander's inventory again, the costs for an Elder wand had risen to 40.000.

 _Why didn't they do that back at Madam Malkin's? The Conqueror could come in handy during fights! – Don't question the game, Harry, you know it's useless. Just accept the fact that you are given a super wand and leave it be._

"Tricky customer, eh?" Mr. Ollivander said happily, piles of opened boxes laying on the counter next to him.

 _When did I try those? I only looked through his inventory!_

Apparently, looking at a wand wood was equivalent to testing a wand in Mr. Ollivander's shop and since Harry had gone through _all_ of them, half the content of the shelves was piled up in the front of the store.

"Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere – I wonder, now – yes, why not – unusual combination – elder and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."

Harry took the wand and immediately felt the familiar warmth spreading through his fingers and arm, a stream of red and golden sparks shooting from the tip like a firework.

"Oh, bravo!" Mr. Ollivander cried, clapping his hands. "Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well… how curious… how very curious… I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather – just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother – why, its brother gave you that scar."

The words sounded oddly familiar, but Harry already knew the story about his wand's connection to Voldemort's. Dumbledore had explained it to him in his fourth year.

He shivered as the memory of Cedric's dead body entered his mind. No, he didn't want to think about those things right now!

Harry bid Mr. Ollivander farewell, his new Elder wand stored away in his inventory, and made his way back to Gringotts where Professor Sinistra was undoubtedly already waiting for him.

 **Quest completed: Purchase your school supplies:** **\+ 100 XP, + 100 Galleons**

 **Bonus: Intelligence Level 6! + 5% XP**

 **Total gain: + 105 XP**

 **Quest updated: Return to Professor Sinistra!**

 _Yeah, yeah,_ Harry thought as he walked back to the snow-white building of the worldwide only wizarding bank. He could already make out Professor Sinistra's silhouette in the distance. Apparently, she hadn't moved at all since he'd set off on his own.

 _Doesn't anyone who takes me on a quest move on their own? Would she have accompanied me, if I'd asked?_

"Professor?" he said upon reaching her. "I've got everything I need, I think. I'm ready to go home."

Sinistra nodded and smiled down at him. "Good, take my arm and I'll apparate us back to Privet Drive."

 **Quest completed: Return to Professor Sinistra: + 10XP, + 10 Galleons**

 **Bonus: Intelligence Level 6! + 5% XP**

 **Total gain: + 10 XP**

Again, Harry had the feeling of being pulled into a maelstrom. A few seconds later, his feet landed on firm ground and he steadied himself by grabbing a hold of Professor Sinistra's robe.

"Careful," she said, reaching out to keep him from falling. "Do you need help getting your supplies to your room?"

Harry paused. His room! He didn't have one – of course, he didn't! The Dursleys never got to see his Hogwarts letter and Uncle Vernon hadn't offered him to move into Dudley's second bedroom!

 _Damn it! What am I supposed to do with Hedwig? She can't stay in the cupboard with me, it's way too small!_

"Err, Professor?" Harry stammered hesitantly. "I don't exactly have a room, you see… I… I live in the cupboard under the stairs and I'm afraid that it isn't big enough for me _and_ my owl…"

Professor Sinistra stared at him. "This is not an appropriate time for jokes, Mr. Potter. We've had a long day of gathering your supplies and I'm probably as exhausted as you are."

"It's not a joke, Professor," Harry countered. "I'll show you."

He unlocked the front door and opened his cupboard for her to take a look inside.

"I've got a bed, a nightstand and a tiny closet," he told her. "There's not enough space for an owl. Besides, Hedwig wouldn't be able to fly in and out as she pleases, there are no windows leading outside."

Professor Sinistra took a step back, straightening herself up to her full height.

"This is simply unacceptable, Mr. Potter," she breathed, shaking her head incredulously. "I can't believe you've been living there for eleven years without anyone taking notice. I will inform the Headmaster immediately of this situation, rest assured that we will find another place for you to sleep. I will be back tomorrow to check on you, Mr. Potter. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go back to Hogwarts."

Harry nodded. "See you tomorrow, Professor!"

She apparated with a loud 'Plop', leaving him alone in the empty hallway.

 **A Way Out – You've told someone about your current living arrangements! + 500 XP**

 **Bonus: Intelligence Level 6! + 5% XP**

 **Total gain: + 525 XP**

Harry blinked. Had he done the right thing? Apparently. Would Professor Sinistra get him out of here? He didn't know, but he'd find out tomorrow.

With a sigh and a newly found hope that things might be getting better, Harry took Hedwig's cage and placed it on the nightstand next to his bed. All his other supplies were neatly stored away in his inventory.

"It's only for tonight, Hedwig," he told her. "Tomorrow, Professor Sinistra will be back. She'll find a way to help us."

 _Hopefully,_ he added in his thoughts.

* * *

 **For all of you wondering why the Elder wand was so cheap while the robes were too expensive to buy - sometimes, games don't make a lot of sense and you can purchase one item for a relatively low price in the beginning while other cost a fortune. I've experienced it myself and wanted to include this idea in my story. ;)  
**


	4. Chapter 3 - Stats

**As requested, here are Harry's current stats! If you find any mistakes, let me know!**

* * *

 **HARRY POTTER (1.421 Galleons)**

 **Level: 5**

 **XP: 6811 / 7500**

 **Health: 120 / 300**

 **Endurance: 100 / 100**

 **#**

 **ATTRIBUTES**

 **Strength – 0**

 **Perception – 1**

 **Endurance – 1**

 **Charisma – 5**

 **Intelligence – 6**

 **Agility – 1**

 **Luck – 2**

 **#**

 **PERSONALITY TRAITS**

 **Ambitious: 10 / 100**

 **Adventurous: 26 / 100**

 **Brave: 20 / 100**

 **Cunning: 15 / 100**

 **Confidence: 12 / 100**

 **Dark: 5 / 100**

 **Diplomatic: 8 / 100**

 **Fair: 11 / 100**

 **Funny: 5 / 100**

 **Hard-Working: 50 / 100**

 **Helpful: 60 / 100**

 **Honest: 30 / 100**

 **Intelligent: 11 / 100**

 **Kind: 43 / 100**

 **Loyal: 10 / 100**

 **Polite: 42 / 100**

 **Rebellious: 23 / 100**

 **Respectful: 32 / 100**

 **Selfless: 32 / 100**

 **Sensitive: 15 / 100**

 **Tolerant: 20 / 100**

 **Temperamental: 39 / 100**

 **#**

 **RELATIONSHIP STATS**

 **Petunia Dursley: 100 / 1000**

 **Vernon Dursley: 83 / 1000**

 **Dudley Dursley: 95 / 1000**

 **Piers Polkiss: 60 / 1000**

 **Mrs. Figg: 300 / 1000**

 **Aurora Sinistra: 350 / 1000**

 **#**

 **BONUS ITEMS**

 **Keen Explorer: + 5% XP for each discovered location**

 **Intelligence Level 6: + 5% XP**

 **Elder Wand: + 50% Attack, + 50% Defense**

 **Owl Level 1: + 1 Intelligence**

 **Basic School Uniform: + 0.5% Armor, + 0.1% Attack**


End file.
